Sport Today

by **Ravi Krish** » Sun, 16 Mar 1997 04:00:00

Quote:

>What I am trying to say is that Sidhu is usually not even given a
>chance. What was Tendulkar's or Azhar's average in one of their worse 5
>inning stretches in tests? Don't try to twist the perspective of the
>facts here. FYI Sidhu was not selected but called for emergency duty in
>Australia in 1992 and five innings with an average of ~20 is no reason
>to kick him out when he is usually one of the most consistent performers
>in the side.

>BTW Azhar had an average of 21.33 for the 5 match series in Australia
>'92. Not just that, he has been pathetic ever since the last few years.
>One flamboyant century when it doesn't even matter after 10 debacles is
>useless. One can recall many times when Sidhu has saved India's skin;
>most recently during the QFinal at Bangalore. If he had been given a
>consistent place in Indian Cricket over the years, he would have been
>one of the highest test scorers in Indian Cricket(behind only Gavaskar,
>Tendulkar, Vengsarkar and Vishvanath). Look at it; he has played in only
>37 matches in the last 12 years or so when India has played well over a
>100. How many players with his stats have been in and out like him over
>a period of 12 years. You can pretend to ignore the facts but thats fine
>cause I am not out to prove anything. Only thing is that with this kind
>of selection, India will continue to rot in International Cricket.

First of all I said earlier that I myself don't understand why Sidhu did not
play as many tests as he should have. Don't include me in Sidhu bashers.
In fact I feel he is quite underrated. After you pointed out that Sidhu had
played only 37 tests in 14 years , I went back to cricket database to dig out
some more info.

Here is Sidhu's playing record ( test matches) from his debut in 1983 till
date.

12 Nov 1983 Ahmedabad 15
3rd Test West Indies 4

24 Dec 1983 Madras 20
6th Test West Indies

12 Nov 1988 Bangalore 116
1st Test New Zealand 43

You can see there is a big gap of 5 years when he did not play for India.
Can someone answer me. May be he was not good enuf in those days. I
remember he played 87 world cup but was not selected for test matches till
next year.

24 Nov 1988 Mumbai 6
2nd Test New Zealand 14

2 Dec 1988 Hyderabad (I) 19
3rd Test New Zealand

25 Mar 1989 Georgetown 42
1st Test West Indies

7 Apr 1989 Bridgetown 9
2nd Test West Indies 0

15 Apr 1989 Port-of-Spain 11
3rd Test West Indies 1

28 Apr 1989 Kingston 116
4th Test West Indies 0

15 Nov 1989 Karachi 0
1st Test Pakistan 85

23 Nov 1989 Faisalabad 20
2nd Test Pakistan 51

1 Dec 1989 Lahore 4
3rd Test Pakistan

9 Dec 1989 Sialkot 12
4th Test Pakistan 97

2 Feb 1990 Christchurch 51
1st Test New Zealand

26 Jul 1990 Lord's 30
1st Test England 1

9 Aug 1990 Manchester 13
2nd Test England 0

23 Aug 1990 The Oval 12
3rd Test England

2 Jan 1992 Sydney 0
3rd Test Australia

25 Jan 1992 Adelaide 27
4th Test Australia 35

1 Feb 1992 Perth 5
5th Test Australia 35

29 Jan 1993 Calcutta 13
1st Test England 37

11 Feb 1993 Madras 106
2nd Test England

19 Feb 1993 Mumbai 79
3rd Test England

13 Mar 1993 Delhi 61
1st Test Zimbabwe

17 Jul 1993 Kandy
1st Test Sri Lanka

27 Jul 1993 Colombo (SSC) 82
2nd Test Sri Lanka 104

4 Aug 1993 Colombo (PSS) 39
3rd Test Sri Lanka

18 Jan 1994 Lucknow 124
1st Test Sri Lanka

26 Jan 1994 Bangalore 99
2nd Test Sri Lanka

8 Feb 1994 Ahmedabad 43
3rd Test Sri Lanka

19 Mar 1994 Hamilton 10
1st Test New Zealand 98

18 Nov 1994 Mumbai 18
1st Test West Indies 12

1 Dec 1994 Nagpur 107
2nd Test West Indies 76

10 Dec 1994 Mohali 0
3rd Test West Indies 11

25 Oct 1995 Madras 33
2nd Test New Zealand

8 Nov 1995 Cuttack 41
3rd Test New Zealand

6 Mar 1997 Kingston 10
1st Test West Indies 0

After 1988 Sidhu has been in and out of side regularly. Why - I don't know.
He is definetely more than a decent bat. But if you look at his performance
he has done much better in India than abroad. Probably his technique does
not suit on faster and bouncier tracks. Well the same can be said about
Azhar , probably Azhar is even worse.

It is well known that Sidhu had some fitness problem. This was further
proved by his absolute lethargic fielding. Probably this may be the cause of
him being on and off from the team.

On the whole I can't think of any indian team after mid 80's which can't have
Sidhu , both in ODI and in tests. In one series which Sidhu played
well was in Pak in 1989-90. He scored 3 fifties and all of them were match
saving.

One last thing. Sidhu's father is a influential man and I find it difficult
to understand that Sidhu was victim of jokers ( selectors). In fact I
remember that people used the same argument that how Sidhu got a chance to
play for India in 1983 when he was just 20 and simple not test class.

by **j sreedh** » Sun, 16 Mar 1997 04:00:00

Quote:

>Here is Sidhu's playing record ( test matches) from his debut in 1983 till
>date.
>12 Nov 1983 Ahmedabad 15
>3rd Test West Indies 4
>24 Dec 1983 Madras 20
>6th Test West Indies
>12 Nov 1988 Bangalore 116
>1st Test New Zealand 43
>You can see there is a big gap of 5 years when he did not play for India.
>Can someone answer me.

Wasn't it due to the court case he was involved in? Or was it after 88?

Sreedhar

by **Sridhar Kompell** » Sun, 16 Mar 1997 04:00:00

Quote:

> Date: 15 MAR 1997 04:40:02 GMT

> Newgroups: rec.sport.cricket
> Subject: Re: Injustice against Sidhu ( Re: why navjot sidhu )

> >Here is Sidhu's playing record ( test matches) from his debut in 1983 till
> >date.

> >12 Nov 1983 Ahmedabad 15
> >3rd Test West Indies 4

> >24 Dec 1983 Madras 20
> >6th Test West Indies

> >12 Nov 1988 Bangalore 116
> >1st Test New Zealand 43

> >You can see there is a big gap of 5 years when he did not play for India.
> >Can someone answer me.

> Wasn't it due to the court case he was involved in? Or was it after 88?

> Sreedhar

The court case was in and around 1989 (just before the West Indies tour
of 1989). He of course went to West Indies after the court granted him
permission and he posted a bond etc.....
And he was reasonably well-established in the team after 1987 Reliance (World)
Cup.

Cheers,
S.Kompella

by **raja kodur** » Mon, 17 Mar 1997 04:00:00

Why are people making big issue about injustice to Sidhu?
Most of the time (before the walkout from England ) he skipped matches due
to fitness problems. He makes a
big score and he's out in next match. Make a note of how many times he
doesnt turn out to field
after a good innings. He doesnt have good stamina - which explains he
doesnt have many big scores in first class
matches as others do. remember the no. of times he gets out in 50s(in
onedays) & 100s in tests. I hope he'll make
this innings at 2nd test with windies a big one. He got a break & he can
continue fresh tomorrow.
I'm a fan of sidhu - right from the day I heard him score hundred against
WIndies playing for North Zone. I was listening to the
commentary that day. I also remember the 20 he scored against Windies at
Madras - the same test in which gavaskar made
his highest test score 236 n.o. Sidhu came into bat at 0 for 2 - and made
a good 20 before an interruption in play. I remember the
commentrator then saying sidhu would've made a bigger score if not for the
interruption. It took four years for him to come back to
the international scene again - This time as the sixer sidhu in Reliance
cup. It was a total transformation from a batsman known
to be solid - to a sixer hitting hero - almost hindi filmish.

by **Narayanan Amman** » Mon, 17 Mar 1997 04:00:00

: 15 Nov 1989 Karachi 0
: 1st Test Pakistan 85

: 23 Nov 1989 Faisalabad 20
: 2nd Test Pakistan 51

: 1 Dec 1989 Lahore 4
: 3rd Test Pakistan

: 9 Dec 1989 Sialkot 12
: 4th Test Pakistan 97

: 2 Feb 1990 Christchurch 51
: 1st Test New Zealand

After this the joker Bedi dropped him and Gurusharan Singh came in.
He is one of the better players of the Indian side. Good to see him making
100.

Narayanan

by **r_kris..** » Mon, 17 Mar 1997 04:00:00

Quote:

>Can you explain why?? Sidhu was one of the top scorers in WC 87 with an
>average of 55.20. The following series was also in India where Sidhu
>plays better as you claim(Don't ignore that the Indian Team as a whole
>plays better at home than away) What other reasons but partisan
>selection; not just by selectors but also by some scheming fellow
>players. I'm sure you know about Kapil Dev being dropped from the Indian
>Side in 1985 so that his record streak of appearing in most consequtive
>tests is broken; all due to a conspiring senior teammember. This is the
>absolute bane of Indian Cricket.

You are asking me. I am asking everyone why Sidhu did not play from 1983
to 1988. How can I answer when I myself didn't know.

As for Kapil Dev incident, how are so sure that it was not any fault of Kapil.

You are right , Indian team sometime had lot of ego problems between senior
players right from the days of Bedi to Azhar. If you want to blame then
please blame all. Ignoring players from a particular zone for bashing is not
correct.

by **r_kris..** » Mon, 17 Mar 1997 04:00:00

Quote:

>I just want to make one point clear. Seems like you are not upto your
>facts about Indian cricket. Sidhu didn't use to be dropped because of
>real fitness problems but due to made up injury excuses. This was the
>main reason that he walked out in England. The team management used to
>make him sit out matches to give match practice to inexperienced
>players. At one point, the captain(Azhar at the time) and the
>manager(Wadekar) totally contradicted themselves wrt Sidhu's injury
>excuse; BECAUSE IT WAS ALL MADE UP FOR GOD SAKE AND THEY HADN'T EVEN
>DISCUSSED WHAT EXCUSE THEY WERE USING FOR THE DAY!!! Now I don't know
>who was behind all this but it certainly is shameful. Funny, isn't it?

>KSD

>PS. Please stay informed.

Mr Dhaliwal , what you said is very true about last year's trip to England
but Sidhu has been on and off for many years. Like he did not play the trip
to South Africa and Zimbabawe in 1992-93. He was not taken for Australian
tour in 1991-92 ( he was called for emergency duty later on ) and many others.
It will foolish to accept that everytime
some excuse was made to keep Sidhu out. Sidhu's poor fitness was well known
and that explains why he was on and off the team. Another proof of his poor
fitness is his absolute lethargic fielding and the unwillingness which he
shows to field.
Before you brand me as a Sidhu basher , once again I remind you to re-read
all my posts in favor of Sidhu as a batsman.