Congress leader and cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu is back doing what he used to do a few decades back– cricket commentary. Star Sports, the broadcast partner for IPL, announced Sidhu’s return as a commentator in an X (formerly Twitter) post.
Star Sports wrote, “A wise man once said, “Hope is the biggest ‘tope’”, And this wise man, the great @sherryontopp himself, has joined our Incredible StarCast!”
A wise man once said, "Hope is the biggest ‘tope’"
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 19, 2024
And this wise man, the great @sherryontopp himself, has joined our Incredible StarCast! 👏
Don't miss his incredible commentary (and gajab one-liners) in #IPLOnStar – STARTS MAR 22, 6:30 PM onwards, LIVE on Star Sports Network! pic.twitter.com/BjmFq9OKQ4
Star Sports further added, “Don’t miss his incredible commentary (and gajab one-liners) in #IPLOnStar – STARTS MAR 22, 6:30 PM onwards, LIVE on Star Sports Network!”, referring to Navjot Sidhu’s commentary.
In an interview facilitated by the IPL’s official TV broadcaster Star Sports, Navjot Singh Sidhu told PTI, “The IPL will set the tone for the World Cup. There is no other cricket happening. The eyes of the world are on IPL. This is where you can snatch a berth for the T20 World Cup, not only Indians, even the foreign players.”
Indian opener for majority of the 1990s, Navjot Sidhu is a seasoned politician as well. Sidhu is a former Punjab Congress chief, a former three-time Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar, a one-time Rajya Sabha MP, and a one-time MLA from Amritsar East. He is also a former cabinet minister.
With Navjot Sidhu accepting this commentary gig for IPL, it has become clear that he won’t be fielded as a candidate for Lok Sabha elections by Congress amid reports that he could contest from Patiala constituency. According to reports, Sidhu is likely to distance himself from campaigning for the Congress party. Notably, Punjab votes for the Lok Sabha elections on the 1st of June, days after the conclusion of the IPL.
Convicted Congress leader spent 10 months in jail for killing a man
The Congress leader had been at the centre of multiple conspiracies including hugging Pakistani Army Chief Qamar Bajwa but he had a particular bad stint when he was sent to jail for killing a man. In April 2023, Sidhu was released from jail after he served a 10-month sentence for a road-rage incident that resulted in a man’s death nearly three-and-a-half-decade ago. He was released two months before the end of his sentence for his ‘good behaviour.’
Navjot Sidhu was imprisoned on 20th May 2022 after surrendering to a Patiala court and receiving a one-year sentence from the Supreme Court in the case. The family of the victim had sought a harsher sentence and a reconsideration of the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision clearing him of murder.
On December 27, 1988, Patiala resident Gurnam Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu got into a fight over a parking space. The former MP and his friend, Rupinder Singh Sandhu, dragged the latter out of his car and hit him. He later died in a hospital. The Congress leader was accused by an eyewitness of killing the latter with a strike to the head.
