Patiala is famous for Patiala shahi turban ( Pagg) royal family and Sidhus. Maharaja of Patiala actively encouraged sports and gave India a sporting culture as well as built in infrastructure for NIS (national institute of sports). Maharaja Bhupinder Singh captained the cricket team of Patiala as well as created the highest cricket field at Chahil close to Shimla in himalayas
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Navjot Singh Sidhu was born in the family of Sardar Bhagwant Singh Sidhu of Patiala. Sardar Bhagwant Singh was a decent cricket player and wanted to see his son Navjot as a top class cricketer. Sardar Bhagwant singh's blessings groomed his son into one of the best cricketers of India. Navjot Singh Sidhu had to face many oddities but each time he came out on top. He was called "Strokeless wonder" due to his sheer grit and determination to succeed against all odds.
following is the article reproduced as written by Amrit Mathur
"While younger colleagues, stuck in fast forward mode, scurry around as though their tails are on fire, Sidhu is relaxed, at ease. On tour, he is the perfect example of the hotel-ground-airport kind of player focussed and undistracted. Others find many things to occupy themselves with but Sidhu, after a day's play, reverts to his hotel room, orders an early dinner, reads a book, makes his mandatory call to wife/kids in Patiala, then hits the bed. "I'm made this way," he says, peeling off his velcro pads after a practise sessions and wiping sweat from his forehead. "Cricket is tough and unforgiving, it requires full time attention, and distractions affect performance. That, it struck me, is the voice of experience because Sidhu has suffered innumerable blows, both physical and psychological. For someone so obviously gifted - and successful - he hasn't had an uninterrupted run, each time he comes through, something happens to hold him back. Sidhu is like a motorcar racer who keeps running into roadblocks, both going and coming.
following is the article reproduced written by Natraja Sriram, a cricket journalist
"From a `strokeless wonder' to the best attacking batsman of spin bowling, Sidhu travelled a very difficult path in Indian cricket. Making his debut against the mighty West Indies at Ahmedabad, he was dropped after playing only two Tests. But Sidhu made a sensational comeback in the Reliance World Cup in 1987. With four half centuries in five innings in the competition, he forced himself back into the Test side as a transformed batsman. He celebrated his return by scoring a century in the first Test against New Zealand at Bangalore the following season. He was in good form in the Test series in the West Indies that followed. Not only did he get a courageous hundred in the final Test at Kingston, he also scored 286 against Jamaica - the highest score by an Indian outside India. He was one of the few batsmen equally at home in Tests and one day cricket and the manner in which he played the spinners was an object lesson in attacking batsmanship. He did well enough in Pakistan in 1989, New Zealand later that season and in England in 1990 before temporarily losing his place. But he forced his way back again during the 1993 England tour of India and remained, more or less, a regular member of the team till the end of the decade. Midway through the 1996 tour of England however, following a misunderstanding with the captain Azharuddin, he deserted the team and returned home. But that was not the end of his career and Sidhu saved his best for the last phase of his career. With courage and consistency as his forte, he ran up a series of big scores, including a double century against West Indies at Port of Spain in 1997. This was followed by a good run against Australia the following season, where he often softened up Shane Warne for Tendulkar to demoralise the bowler. He still had a lot of good cricket in him when he decided to call it quits in 1999."
These days Navjot Singh Sidhu is employed as a commentator on Television where he has single handedly transformed the cricket commentary with his witted idioms now called "Sidhuisms". Here are few example
In the midst of a verbal duel with Martin Crowe: "Wickets are like wives - you never know which way they will turn! "
Commenting on Ganguly after he was out for a low score in the 2nd Test against Zimbabwe: "..Looks like a brooding hen over a china egg"
In the midst of a verbal duel with Tony Greig: "If ifs and buts were pots and pans, there would be no tinkers!"
When Ganguly took a catch that had gone very high in the air: "That ball went so high it could have got an air hostess down with it !!"
"Statistics are like miniskirts, they reveal more than what they hide."
In India's last match against New Zealand: "New Zealanders are like bicycles in a cycle stand - one falls down and the complete row will be down!
"Sri Lankan score is running like an Indian taxi meter."
Taking the cake with a red cherry on top
For Sri Lankan batsman Kaluwitharna, when he was wasting many balls: "He is like Indian three wheeler which will suck a lot of diesel but cannot go beyond 30! "
To Martin Crowe The Indians are going to beat the Kiwis! Let me tell you, my friend, that the Kiwi is the only bird in the whole world which does not have wings!"
Muralitharan bowling to the last Indian pair: "The wily fox is back. Its an ill omen when a fox licks its lambs."
Applauding Reetinder Singh Sodhi's fighting spirit Young Ricky will fight a rattlesnake and give him the first two bites!
The gap between bat and pad is so much that I would have driven a car through it
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