NS Sidhu: Bigger than his clichés

Sidhu is an extremely underrated ODI batsman

ONE DAY INTERNATIONALS

Sidhu’s personality and his performances played out with a little more flair in ODIs than in Test matches. Making his one-day debut vs Australia in the 1987 World Cup, he started off with a bang with 4 consecutive fifties and continued this rich vein of form for the next 2 years to complete 1000 ODI runs in just 25 innings.

To this day, Sidhu remains the third fastest Indian to score 1000 ODI runs (25 innings) after Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan (24 each).

Sidhu was in his peak form between 9 Oct 1987 and 14 Apr 1995. Amongst batsmen who scored more than 2000 runs in ODIs, Sidhu was the highest averaging Indian and had the third best overall average after Dean Jones and Geoff Marsh.

Table 4: Top ODI Batsmen (Oct’87-Apr-95), Qual – min 2000 runs.

Batsman Name	Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100	50
Dean Jones	119	117	4644	45.98	4	39
Geoff Marsh	80	78	3178	44.13	7	18
Navjot Sidhu	91	87	3446	43.62	5	28
Brian Lara	84	83	3313	43.59	5	25
Desmond Haynes	116	116	4319	41.52	9	29
Inzamam Ul Haq	87	85	2981	41.4	4	21
Martin Crowe	80	79	2811	41.33	2	21
Robin Smith	64	63	2218	40.32	4	13

Sidhu was also striking the ball at a decent rate, scoring 71 runs per 100 balls which not only compares well with the batsmen listed in the table but is also well placed amongst all major batsmen of that time. Also, 5 of his 6 ODI centuries came during this period.

Pressing his stature as a genuine match winner, throughout his career, no one averaged more than Sidhu in matches that India won, apart from Sachin Tendulkar. Keeping the same cut-off as above, Sidhu emerges as one of 8 batsmen who averaged more than 50 in wins.

He and Tendulkar, in fact, are the only Indian Batsmen who average more than 50 in this case. The scenario is a little different when the cut-off runs are reduced to 1000, but it doesn’t diminish his contribution one bit.

If the same statistic is seen for peak years, Sidhu’s numbers are remarkable. Only Martin Crowe averages more than Sidhu in wins followed by Brian Lara and Dean Jones.

Table 5: Average in Wins (Oct’87-Apr’95), Qual- Min 1000 runs

Batsman Name	Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100	50
Martin Crowe	36	36	1702	65.46	2	14
Navjot Sidhu	52	50	2448	58.28	4	21
Brian Lara	46	45	2207	58.07	5	16
Dean Jones	79	78	3540	55.31	4	30
Inzamam Ul Haq	48	46	1908	54.51	3	13
Mohammad Azahruddin	72	64	2213	50.29	1	14
Sachin Tendulkar	51	49	1963	49.07	4	14
Desmond Haynes	67	67	2796	49.05	8	16
Andrew Jones	40	40	1614	48.9	0	17

Sidhu was also remarkably consistent when it came to contributing to team wins at overseas and neutral venues. Amongst Indian batsmen, his average (49.28) is bettered only by Saurav Ganguly (68.71) and Sachin Tendulkar (60.23). His average is 11^th highest on an overall basis, though, not bad at all when you see the names that follow him.

Sidhu was also amongst the top batsmen in Sharjah, which had become the center of the ODI action in the late 80s and all of the 90s. Although Sachin made the venue his own in 1998, Sidhu was amongst the top performing batsmen in Sharjah during his career span.

A significant finding, given that India won only 16 out of the 38 matches it played there.

Table 6: Top Batsmen At Sharjah (Oct’87-Sep’98) – Qual – Min 750 Runs

Batsman Name	Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100	50
Sachin Tendulkar	28	28	1260	50.40	4	6
Saeed Anwar	36	36	1553	45.67	7	4
Inzamam Ul Haq	28	28	1096	45.66	1	8
Saleem Malik	45	39	1462	43	3	9
Navjot Sidhu	32	32	1225	40.83	2	8
Aamer Sohail	25	25	960	40.00	2	6
Rameez Raja	24	24	787	35.77	2	3
Roshan Mahanama	30	29	888	34.15	1	5
Aravinda De Silva	35	35	1123	34.03	1	7

Sidhu’s antics in popular media seem to have overshadowed his performances on the cricket field. His ebullient and extrovert demeanor belie his keen observation of the game that allowed him to come back into the Indian team in 1987 and cement his place as one of India’s most consistent performers for a better part of the next decade.

One has to look deeper into the numbers to truly understand the sheer match winning capabilities of this glorious cricketer.