Throwback: When Navjot Sidhu fought with skipper Mohammad Azharuddin, opener remains forthright always

One of Navjot Sidhu’s most controversial moment as a cricketer was back in 1996, when he decided to walk out of India’s England tour after a much-published falling out with then skipper Mohammed Azharduddin.

Former India skipper Navjot Singh Sidhu is not one to mince his words – whether it is in the political arena or on the cricket field or even in dressing room. One of Sidhu’s most controversial moment as a cricketer was back in 1996, when he decided to walk out of India’s England tour after a much-published falling out with then skipper Mohammed Azharduddin. Many years later, former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jaywant Lele revealed what went on behind closed doors between Sidhu and Azhar. Lele in his autobiography, ‘I was There - Memoirs of a Cricket Administrator’ that Sidhu could not stomach the constant bad mouthing of Azharuddin and abandoned the tour in a huff. “Everyday, when they met, he used to say ‘Good morning’, okay, but this was invariably followed by filthy words. At the hotel, at the nets, while passing on instructions, even while chatting with him, Azhar would address him with a prefix!