'In those days, he was trying to woo Shilpa Shetty' - Navjot Singh Sidhu recalls hilarious banter with Geoffrey Boycott

Former India cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu is one of the most popular voices in Indian broadcasting. After retiring from the sport, Sidhu started commentating and entertained fans with his uniqueness.

The 61-year-old recently recalled his hilarious banter with the legendary English cricketer Geoffrey Boycott, who was a fan of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, the former co-owner of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals. Sidhu revealed that the interaction with Boycott during a commentary stint helped him to receive a salary hike.

“I went for commentary and Harsha (Bhogle) was there. He was talking about Geoffrey Boycott and people expected us to salute Boycott. When I went there, Geoffrey was like ‘Gabbar Sher’. In those days, he was trying to woo Shilpa Shetty. Everybody feared him,” Sidhu said on the ‘Thoko Taali’ session of Agenda Aaj Tak.

“He was like ‘Sidhu, ha, ha, ha. How are you?’. I was like ‘I am fine sir’. He said: ‘Sidhu, look at the morning sun. Look at it. It’s as beautiful as Shilpa Shetty’. I told him ‘Sir, Shilpa Shetty smiled at you because she thinks you are her father’s best friend. That’s why. He was like ‘What happened?’. After those two deliveries went by, I was waiting for him to respond.” He was like ‘Sidhu, I just celebrated my 27th birthday yesterday’. I was like ‘Yes, Sir Geoffrey, when you celebrated your birthday the day before yesterday, the candles cost more than the cake (one candle for each year). And when you lit them up, it was like a prairie fire, they had to call the fire brigade’. When I said that, everybody broke into laughter,” Sidhu said.

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The Patiala-born explained that his originality during the commentary stint helped him receive a substantial hike.

“I went in with a salary of Rs 1.5 lakh. But, after that commentary stint, my salary was quickly raised to Rs 5 lakh per day. Why? Because I was original, I had carved a niche for myself. I made a lane for myself, where no one was there. I was original,” Sidhu added.

Sidhu had an illustrious career for India, having amassed 3,202 runs from 51 Tests and 4,413 runs from 136 ODIs. He had a total of 15 hundred and 48 fifties across the two formats. His international career spanned from November 1983 to January 1999.