Navjot Sidhu: The irascible problem child of the Congress

The Congress' top leadership realises the former cricketer's utility and mass appeal. His oratory skills and ability to whip up mass hysteria in election rallies is acknowledged as an asset

In 1996, when Navjot Sidhu walked out of the Indian cricket team midway through its disastrous tour of England, nobody knew what had set off one of the strangest antics by an Indian cricketer in history. It would be another 15 years till Jaywant Lele’s book would reveal that Sidhu’s walkout was triggered by what he perceived to be constant foul mouthing by Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin. Any other cricketer walking out of a crucial tour would have invited a potential life ban. But then as indispensable as Sidhu was to the team, the maverick cricketer was recalled six months