Ravi Shastri

Ravishankar Jayadritha Shasti (born 27 May 1962, Bombay, Maharashtra, India) is a former Indian cricketer and captain. He was an all–rounder who batted right–handed and bowled left arm spin. His international career started when he was 18 years old and lasted for 12 years. He started his career purely as a bowler but gradually became more of a batsman who could bowl.

As a batsman, he was essentially defensive with the "chapati shot(a flick off the pads) being his trademark shot, but could raise his strike rate when required. Due to his above-average height (he stood 6' 3" tall) and an upright stance, he had a limited number of shots against fast bowling, but was able to put the lofted shot to good use against spin bowling. Shastri played either as an opening batsmen or in the middle order.

The highlight of his career was when he was elected the Champion of Champions in the World Championship of Cricket in Australia in 1985. In the same season, he equalled West Indian Garry Sobers's record of hitting six sixes in an over in first class cricket. He was regarded as a potential captain, but his image outside cricket , injuries and tendency to lose form at crucial times meant that he captained India in only one Test match.

In domestic cricket, he played for Bombay and led them to the Ranji Trophy title in his final year of playing. He also played four seasons of county cricket for Glamorgan. He was forced to retire aged 31 due to a recurring knee injury. He is now a noted TV cricket commentator.

Within eighteen months of his Test debut, he had moved up from tenth position in the batting order to being an opening batsman. "His calm, sensible batting lower in the order", wrote Wisden, commenting on his first series, "raised promise of his developing into a useful all–rounder, and his fielding too was an asset". By the end of his career, he had batted in every position from one to ten. By his own admission, he ignored his bowling in favour of his batting. This was reflected in his performances. However, his figures of 9-101 in the season–opening 1981 Irani Trophy stood as a tournament record for nearly twenty years.

It was the failure of the regular openers Pranab Roy and Ghulam Parkar that led to Shastri being made to open at the Oval against England in 1982. He distinguished himself by scoring 66 runs in that match. An injury in the webbing of his hand ruled him out of four of the Tests to be played in Pakistan. Forced again to open in the final Test at Karachi, against the fast bowling of Imran Khan (then at the peak of his career), he scored his first Test hundred. He later made another hundred against the West Indies in Antigua. Indian Cricket was impressed enough to suggest that, given time, he could become the one of the best batsmen in the Indian team.

Shastri was not selected to play in most of the important matches in the 1983 World Cup. In the series against the West Indies later that year, he again distinguished himself with his bold effort in batting against the domineering West Indian pace bowlers.