(Correcting first para)

New Delhi, Dec 1 (UNI) A nemesis for the spinners in his batting pomp, life comes a full circle for Navjot Singh Sidhu who was convicted of culpable homicide by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court convicted the BJP MP for causing the death of one Gurnam Singh during an altercation in 1988 and overturned the judgement of a Patiala sessions court in this regard.

Dubbed a ''Strokeless Wonder'' early in his career, Sidhu gradually developed a penchant to go after the spinners and hammered eight sixes in his 124 against Sri Lanka, skinning the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan and in 1993-94, gave Shane Warne the kind of pounding that breaks hearts and wrecks averages.

Towards the end of his career spanning 51 Test and 136 ODI matches, Sidhu's fielding underwent a huge change as he started enjoying it.

Sidhu made his Test debut against West Indies at Ahmedabad in 1983 and played his last Test against New Zealand at Hamilton in 1999.

His ODI debut was against Australia at Chennai in 1987 and he played his last one dayer against Pakistan at Toronto in 1998.

Born in Patiala on October 20, 1963, Sidhu posted a dramatic win over Congress' R L Bhatia on a BJP ticket in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections from Amritsar.

And even when he swapped the bat for the commentator's microphone, the jovial opener carved a niche with his inimitable ''Sidhuism'', which raised the purists' eyebrows but found large number of takers among the Indian crowd.

A commentator with an incorrigible weakness for idioms, phrases and rhymes Sidhu's unique sense of humour entertained the legion of listeners who rejoiced with descriptions like ''That ball went so high it could have got an airhostess down with it.'' He was also the co-host of the hugely popular TV show 'The Great Indian Laughter Challenge'.

UNI AY RP BS1932