Monty Panesar - Personal Life

Personal Life

Panesar has a large supportive family both in England and Punjab, his parents having migrated to England from India in the late 1970s. His father, Paramjit Singh Panesar, who moved to England in 1979, is a builder. His mother is Gursharan Kaur. Panesar has a younger brother, Isher Singh Panesar, and sister, Charanjit Kaur Panesar. His family lives in Luton. Panesar is a devoted Luton Town fan and is often seen at matches.

Panesar has been quoted as saying, "I follow Sikhism, and maybe I’ve channelled the discipline that religion creates into my cricket. There’s discipline with any religion, and you can take it into a game or into anything else." (The Sunday Times, 6 August 2006). Away from cricket, Panesar went to St. Matthew's Infant and Junior Schools and Stopsley High School, Luton. For Sixth Form, he studied at Bedford Modern School. He also has a degree in computer science from Loughborough University. Panesar has uncut hair and a full length beard, which is a fundamental part of the Sikh identity and way of life. He won the 2006 Beard of the Year competition run by the Beard Liberation Front.

Nicknames for Panesar include "The Montster", "The Python" (a reference to Monty Python), The "Sikh of Tweak" (probably a humorous reference to Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne's - mispronounced - sobriquet, 'The Sheikh of Tweak)', "Montastic", "Parmesan Tony" (an anagram), "The Beard to be Feared", or "The Turbanator" (though this generally refers to Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh, and both he and Panesar wear a patka, not a turban, while playing cricket); however, he is most commonly known simply as Monty.