Navjot Singh Sidhu Gets a Visit From His 'Brother' Mohammad Azharuddin

Cricket is a great leveller. The relationship between Navjot Singh Sidhu and Mohammad Azharuddin was always one of fire and brimstone. During India's tour of England in 1996, Sidhu walked out citing differences with skipper Azharuddin. Nineteen years after that unsavoury incident, Azharuddin paid his opening batsman a surprise visit at a Delhi hospital on Thursday. (Navjot Singh Sidhu Suffering from Deep Vein Thrombosis, on Blood Thinners)

Azharuddin paid a surprise visit to Sidhu at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital on Thursday. Reportedly, Azharuddin went into Sidhu's room by telling the hospital staff, "My brother is inside". (Navjot Singh Sidhu's Fight With Deep Vein Thrombosis: Social Media Prays for Sherry Paa)

Sidhu has been undergoing treatment in New Delhi after he was diagnosed with Deep Vein Thrombosis (a blood clot in the veins of the limbs) on Wednesday. His condition is stable and he does not require surgery.

Sidhu promptly took to social media to express his happiness that Azharuddin, a former Congress MP, visited him. Sidhu tweeted a photo of him with Azharuddin near his bedside and wrote, "Old Gold, Old Wine, Old Friends - Still the Best!"

Old Gold, old wine, old friends - still the Best! pic.twitter.com/cz83GWAUJh

- Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) October 8, 2015

What prompted Sidhu to quit the England tour in 1996 is not clearly known. Late BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele wrote in in his autobiography -- I was There, Memoirs of a Cricket Administrator -- that Sidhu walked out because "he felt he was constantly abused by Azharuddin."

Sidhu, who made his international debut in 1983, quit the England tour and announced his retirement after he was dropped for the final Texaco one-day international at Old Trafford. Azharuddin later said Sidhu had been dropped "on cricketing grounds by all four members of the selection committee and that was informed prior to the match."

"I have been humiliated time and again but have withstood it all with all the courage I had, purely because the interest of the country was paramount,: Sidhu had said in a statement after he returned from England in a huff.

Sidhu complained that the treatment meted out to him in England was "the final nail in the coffin, which has almost made me a nervous wreck where I could do justice neither to myself nor my countrymen."

Although Sidhu never directly mentioned Azharuddin's name, former skipper Kapil Dev held the stylish Hyderabadi responsible.

"I will blame Azharuddin for Sidhu's stunning decision to leave the team in the middle of the tour though I am not happy with the veteran opener's decision to quit," Kapil had said, adding: "It is a bad thing. It should not have happened."