After losing his place in the national team following his international debut in 1983–84, he returned to score four half-centuries in the 1987 World Cup.

In May 2022, the Supreme Court of India convicted him of voluntarily causing hurt (Section 323 of the Indian Penal Code) and sentenced him to 1 year rigorous imprisonment.

[11] Sidhu was elected to the Lok Sabha as a member from Amritsar in 2004 on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket; he later resigned, following his conviction in 2006.

[12] After the Supreme Court stayed his conviction, he successfully contested the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, defeating his Congress rival, State Finance Minister Surinder Singla, by 77,626 votes.

He made 116 while opening the innings retiring hurt 30 minutes before end of play on day one after suffering from cramp in the legs.

Wisden wrote, "Batting securely despite obvious flaws in technique, he reached his century in 324 minutes, off 216 balls, and hit eight fours.

[40] Sidhu injured his wrist in the First Test of India's tour of New Zealand later that season, while facing an aggressive spell of fast bowling by Danny Morrison, ruling him out of the series.

[42] After poor performances at the domestic level, he was omitted from the 16-member side that was selected to tour South Africa starting October 1992.

[53] After a string of poor performances in 1983, Rajan Bala, a noted cricket columnist, wrote an article on him titled "Sidhu: The Strokeless Wonder" in the Indian Express.

[57] Following this, he was banished from the team for ten Tests by the BCCI eventually making a return in the 1996–97 tour of West Indies.

[52] Known for his tendency to attack spinners, he cracked eight sixes in 124 against Sri Lanka in 1993–94, and four fifties in five innings against the Australians in 1997–98, deliberately singling out Shane Warne.

This led to a dispute with Star India who alleged that Sidhu had breached his ₹22.5 crore contract with them by working for their competitor, and sought a refund.

In early 2019, Sidhu caused controversy when he was interpreted as supporting Pakistan, in his response to the Pulwama Terrorist Attack that killed 40 personnel of India's border security forces.

He was asked to leave season 2 of The Kapil Sharma Show that he had been a permanent guest on for a long time, and was replaced by Archana Puran Singh.

[95] On 2 September 2016, Sidhu along with Pargat Singh and Bains brothers formed a new political front - Aawaaz-e-Punjab claiming to fight against those working against Punjab.

[98] As Minister of Tourism and Local Bodies, Sidhu contributed to the Project Virasat[99] to revive India's only handicraft on UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

[100] This craft of making brass utensils is professed by the Thatheras of Jandiala Guru area, which falls under his former Lok Sabha constituency of Amritsar.

Earlier the Commission issued a notice to Sidhu for seeking votes on religion lines at a rally in Katihar district of Bihar.

On 14 July 2019, Sidhu tweeted a copy of his resignation from the Punjab Cabinet, dated 10 June 2019 and addressed to Rahul Gandhi.

[105][106] Later, Sidhu openly criticised the Punjab Government about their handling of the Sacrilege Case, however the party termed it as a diversity of views.

[109] In the 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election, Sidhu, contesting from the Amritsar East seat, lost to Aam Aadmi Party candidate Jeevan Jyot Kaur.

[112] After the corridor opening was confirmed by Pakistan's Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Navjot Singh Sidhu appreciated his cricket friend Imran Khan for taking such a great step.

[114] On 15 February 2019, during an appearance on The Kapil Sharma Show, Sidhu condemned the recent attack on Indian soldiers in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir as "cowardly and dastardly".

[116] On 16 February, it was reported that The Kapil Sharma Show had responded by removing Sidhu as presenter and permanent guest, with Archana Puran Singh replacing him.

[124] In 2018, a bench headed by Justices Chalemeswar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul let the two off with a fine of ₹ 1,000 without any jail term, saying "there was no evidence to prove that the death was caused by the single blow" dealt by Sidhu.

The court noted that the hand can also be used as a "weapon by itself where a boxer, wrestler, cricketer, or an extremely physically fit person inflicts a blow."

On 19 May 2022, the Supreme Court convicted him for voluntarily causing hurt (Section 323 of the Indian Penal Code) and sentenced him to 1 year rigorous imprisonment.

Section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of IPC has a maximum jail term of up to one year or a fine up to Rs 1,000 or both.

[7] He was imprisoned in Patiala Jail along with his rival Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia against whom Sidhu contested in the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections.

[121][8] A Bollywood film Azhar released in 2016, directed by Tony D'Souza, was based on his teammate Mohammad Azharuddin's life and revolves around Match fixing scandals in late 90s and 2000.