User:Tintin1107/Shastri

Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri (born May 27, 1962 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India ) was an Indian cricketer.

Shastri was an all-rounder who batted right-handed and bowled left arm spin for India. He made his debut for India at the age of 18 and played on for twelve years. He started his career purely as a bowler but as time went along, he became more of a batsman who could bowl.

Perhaps the highest point in 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 Garry Sobers's record of hitting six sixes in an over in first class cricket. He was considered captaincy material, but his image, injuries and losses of form at inoppurtune times meant that he captained India in only one Test.

As a batsman, Shastri was more effective than handsome. He was essentially a defensive batsman, but could score very fast at times. His trademark shot was the flick off the pads. Being 6' 3" tall and having an upright stance, he employed the drive sparsely against the faster bowlers. But against spinners when in mood, he could use the lofted shots very effectively. He has frequently opened the innings and batted in the middle order.

A recurring knee injury put an early end to his career at the age of 31. He in now a noted TV cricket commentator.

International Cricket
Within eighteen months of his Test debut, he had moved up from No. 10 in the batting order to being the opener. 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 was over, he had batted in every position from 1 to 10. By his own admission, he ignored his bowling in favour of the batting and that reflected in both. Still, his 9 for 101 in the season opening Irani trophy in 1981 stood as a tournament record for nearly twenty years.

It was the failure of the regular openers Pranob Roy and Ghulam Parkar that lead to Shastri being made to open at Oval against England in 1982. He distinguished himself by scoring 66. An injury in the webbing of the hand put him out of four of the Tests in Pakistan. Forced to open in the final Test at Karachi, against the bowling of Imran Khan at his best, he scored his first hundred in Test cricket. Shastri later a hundred against West Indies in Antigua. Indian Cricket 1983 was impressed enough to suggest that he could become the best batsman in the Indian team in a few years.

Shastri was not selected for most of the important matches in the 1983 World Cup. When the West Indies fast bowlers destroyed India in the series later that year, he agains distinguished himself with some bold efforts.