Navjot Singh Sidhu, a Punjabi Sikh, reinvented himself as an attacking strokemaker after making his debut as a stonewaller who played some long attritional innings against the West Indies without reaching a high score. He played two matches when West Indies toured India in 1983-84, when the attack he faced was Marshall, Holding, Roberts and Daniel. He did not return until the Bangalore Test of 1987-88, when he scored 116 and 43 not out against New Zealand. In 1987-88 he made 116 in Jamaica and on a 1988-89 tour of Pakistan there was 85 in Karachi and 97 in Sialkot. He came to England in 1990 but his best Test score was 30. He was flown out to Australia as a replacement in 1991-92, having to play in a Test match almost immediately after walking off the plane. In 1992-93 he made 106 against England in Madras and particularly tormented John Emburey with 6s over long on. He made 82 and 104 in one match against Sri Lanka at the SSC in Colombo in 1993-94 and 124 when Sri Lanka came to Lucknow. Sidhu scored 98 against New Zealand, also in 1993-94, and 107 against West Indies in Nagpur a year later. He fell out of the Indian side but returned in the West Indies in 1996-97, when he made 201 in Trinidad. During the 1987 World Cup, when India were defending the title, he made 73 against Australia in Madras and 75 against New Zealand in Bangalore, appearing in both quarter and semi-finals. He did not play in 1992, but in 1996 scored 80 against Zimbabwe in Kanpur and 93 in the quarter-final against Pakistan in Bangalore. (Bob Harragan)