Monty Panesar

Mudhsuden Singh Panesar, known as Monty Panesar (born 25 April 1982 in Luton, Bedfordshire), is an English cricketer. A left-arm spinner, Panesar played Test and one-day cricket for England until 2009. In English county cricket he played for Northamptonshire until 2009, when he departed that team and joined Sussex for the 2010 season. He has also played for Lions in South Africa.

Born in Luton to Indian Punjabi Sikh parents, he is the first Sikh to represent a nation other than India in Test cricket. He wears a black patka (a smaller version of the full Sikh turban) while playing and training.

During his early international career Panesar often received loud cheers whenever he came on to bat, bowl or field, the latter due to his history of less than skilful fielding. When first selected for England he was widely perceived as being a particularly inept batsman and fielder, which may have contributed to this reception; the TMS commentator Henry Blofeld once accidentally referred to him as Monty Python, a mistake possibly encouraged by his comic reputation. After early success in Test cricket, his results declined, leading to him losing his place in 2009, but his excellent county form saw him named a member of...
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