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Navjot Singh Sidhu
Navjot Singh Sidhu, a former Indian Cricketer, was a right-hand batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler. He also appeared as a commentator and a television judge

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Navjot Singh Sidhu, Indian Cricket PlayerNavjot Singh Sidhu, born on 20th October, 1963, was a right-hand batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler. This fiery stroke-producer used to blow away the rival spin bowling with his high-voltage batting. He had a schizophrenic touch to his game. Navjot Singh Sidhu was a stern batsman competent of dogged defence. He could also be a fearless stroke-player who loved stepping out to spinners. During his early days in 1983-84 he was dubbed as a strokeless wonder. However, he returned with a huge retribution in the 1987 World Cup, where he scored with four fifties in a row, hitting over the top merrily. Eventually, in an elongated career which spanned for 51 Tests and 136 one-day internationals, he made a mark in the annals of Indian Cricket.

Cricket Career for Navjot Singh Sidhu
Navjot Singh Sidhu`s cricket career ranged from 1983 to 1999. He made his Test debut in November 1983`s India Vs West Indies at Ahmedabad. His debut performance, yielding just a minimal 19 runs, was not at all significant.

Navjot Singh Sidhu made a dazzling comeback in the 1987 World Cup, held in India. He flaunted a brilliant 73, on his One-Day Internationals debut in the India Vs Australia at Chennai on October 9, 1987.

The vigorous Sidhu sustained this prolific form in four of the five World Cup matches he took part in. He demonstrated his resplendent half-centuries in those four matches.

Navjot Singh Sidhu attained his maiden ODI century, against the competent Pakistan, at Sharjah, in 1989. In 1993, at Gwalior, against England, he achieved the loftiest achievement of his ODI career, the towering 134. Navjot Singh Sidhu had represented India in 51 Tests and 136 One-Day Internationals. He had enough calibre to obtain 500 runs, thrice a year, during 1993, 1994 and 1997. Alone in 1994, he reached 885 runs in the ODI. His Test optimal peak was a fantastic 201 against West Indies in 1996-97, within a span of eleven hours only.

Sidhu who had perfected the art of combating against spin-attacks, had the outstanding example of hitting eight sixes in 124 in the face of the difficult Sri Lanka bowling in 1993-94. Muralitharan and the other efficient Sri Lanka bowlers could not stand before Navjot Singh Sidhu. He played against Australia in 1997-98 and scored four fifties in five innings. His last ODI happened to be the India Vs Pakistan at Toronto on September 20, 1998. While his last Test was the New Zealand Vs India at Hamilton, on January 1999, Navjot Singh Sidhu bade a farewell to his playing life, in 1999. He played in over 50 Test matches for India and more than 100 ODIs scoring over 7,000 international runs. He has 27 centuries to his credit in an 18-year career

Cricket Statistics of Navjot Singh Sidhu

Batting and Fielding Averages

Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 4s 6s Ct St
Tests 51 78 2 3202 201 42.13 - - 9 15 - 38 9 0
ODIs 136 127 8 4413 134* 37.08 6329 69.72 6 33 335 44 20 0
First-class 157 228 12 9571 286 44.31 - - 27 50 - - 50 0
List A 205 191 19 7186 139 41.77 - - 10 55 - - 31 0


Bowling Averages
Mat Inns Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 4w 5w 10
Tests 51 1 6 9 0 - - - 9.00 - 0 0 0
ODIs 136 2 4 3 0 - - - 4.50 - 0 0 0
First-class 157 - 104 91 0 - - - 5.25 - 0 0 0
List A 205 - 10 8 0 - - - 4.80 - 0 0 0


Stint in Television for Navjot Singh Sidhu
Sidhu inaugural experience as a commentator was for NIMBUS, during the tour of India to Sri Lanka in 2001. Later he received the scope of casting himself as a commentator with the leading sports channel ESPN Sports.

Sidhu was appointed as the honourable judge of the reality show "The Great Indian Laughter Challenge". This has highlighted on the humour-loving nature of Sidhu. He also appeared in other similar programmes as "Funjabi Chak De."

Navjot Singh Sidhu in Films
He featured as a cricket commentator in the Bollywood film Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. He also starred in a Punjabi Film named Mera Pind alongside Harbhajan Mann.

Navjot Singh Siddhu in Politics
In 2004 Sidhu won on a Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP ticket from the Amritsar seat in the Indian general elections. However, later he had to resign owing to a court case against him. In the 2009 general elections, he kept the Amritsar seat defeating Om Prakash Soni of INC by 6858 votes.


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