New Delhi, Dec 01: Famous for his catchy one-liners, Navjot Singh Sidhu, former Indian cricket batsman, took up television commentary and, more recently, politics following his retirement from the game.
Sidhu, whose one-liners are the trademark of his commentary are now popularly called "Sidhuisms", was elected to the Lok Sabha from Amritsar in 2004 on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket.
Sidhu, who scored just 19 runs in his debut Test match against West Indies at Ahmedabad in 1983, was given another chance in that series but he failed again. He was selected for the 1987 cricket World Cup in India scoring 73 on his ODI debut in a losing effort against Australia.
He scored 50s in four of the five World Cup 1987 matches in which he batted, failing in the semifinal against England. His maiden ODI century came against Pakistan in Sharjah in 1989, while his 134 against England at Gwalior in 1993 was his highest ODI score and the innings which he called his best when he retired in 1999.
It was during later part of his career that he was recognised as a classy Test batsman when he scored over 500 Test runs in a year thrice (1993, 1994 and 1997). His only Test double century came during India's 1997 tour of West Indies. In 1994, he scored 885 ODI runs.
He announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in December 1999. He played over 50 Test matches and over 100 ODIs scoring over 7,000 international runs. He has 27 first class centuries to his credit in a career that spanned 18 years.
Bureau Report
