Navjot Singh Sidhu: The Rebel with a Cause | Biography of a Cricketer, Politician and TV Star
Navjot Singh Sidhu is a former Indian cricketer, politician, and television personality. He was born on 20 October 1963 in Patiala, Punjab, to a Jat Sikh family. He played 51 Test matches and 136 One-Day Internationals for India, scoring over 7,000 runs and earning the nickname “Sixer Sidhu” for his six-hitting ability. He retired from cricket in 1999 and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2004. He won the Lok Sabha election from Amritsar twice, in 2004 and 2009. He also became a popular cricket commentator and a judge on comedy shows like The Kapil Sharma Show. In 2016, he resigned from the BJP and joined the Indian National Congress (INC) in 2017. He became the Minister of Local Government, Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Archives and Museums of Punjab in 2017 and the President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee in 2021. He resigned from both posts in 20221. He is married to Navjot Kaur Sidhu, a former MLA and a doctor.
Some of the untold facts about Navjot Singh Sidhu are
He was a brilliant student and scored 85% in his 10th standard board exams.
He was involved in a road rage case in 1988, in which he allegedly punched a man named Gurnam Singh, who later died. He was convicted of culpable homicide in 2006, but appealed to the Supreme Court. In 2022, the Supreme Court upheld his conviction and sentenced him to one year in prison.
He walked out of the 1996 tour of England, claiming that his captain Mohammad Azharuddin was frequently abusing him. He later revealed that he was suffering from depression at that time and sought help from a psychiatrist.
He is known for his witty and humorous one-liners, which are called “Sidhuisms”. Some of his famous Sidhuisms are
"Experience is like a comb that life gives you when you are bald."
"If ifs and buts were pots and pans, there would be no tinkers."
"You can’t play snakes and ladders with the snake in your backyard."
"The third umpire is a blind man with a white stick and a red nose."