


Indian Cricket Stars
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar | MS Dhoni | Shikhar Dhawan | Rohit Sharma | Suresh Raina | Virat Kohli | Cheteshwar Pujara | Yusuf Pathan | Murali Kartik | Murali Vijay | Dinesh Karthik | Irfan Pathan | Ishant Sharma | Bhuvneshwar KumarGautam Gambir | Virender Sehwag | Zaheer Khan | Harbhajan Singh | Yuvraj Singh | Joginder Sharma | Mohammad Kaif | Ramesh Powar | Robin Uthappa | RP Singh
Rahul Dravid | Ajit Agarkar | Anil Kumble | Sourav Ganguly | VVS Laxman | Wasim Jaffer | Dinesh Mongia | VRV Singh | Sreesanth | Piyush Chawla | Pragyan Ojha | Munaf Patel
Kapil Dev Nikhanj | Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar | Roger Michael Humphrey Binny | Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri | Mohinder Amarnath | Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar
Ravi Shastri

Shastri might not have cut a dashing figure on the field as he pushed and prodded and grafted his way for runs and his bowling was little more than defensive as he pegged away on a good length without much variation. Of batsman who have played ten Test innings against Australia, only Eddie Paynter averages more than Shastri’s 77.75. He was like Navjot Sidhu in reverse: he started off as a lower-order hitter, but ended up as the original stonewaller at the top of the order.
But no one could deny his immense value to the side, his commitment to the team's cause and his consistency had to be admired. He very rarely let the country down and was an excellent utility cricketer in the one-day game, good enough to win the coveted Champions of Champions title - and the Audi car that went with it - in the World Championship of Cricket in Australia in 1985. Despite his image as a cricketer with a defensive outlook, Shastri could really have a go at the bowling - as he did while equalling Gary Sobers' world record of six sixes in an over in a Ranji Trophy game in January 1985. A deep thinker and a shrewd strategist, he led India to victory in the one Test he captained - against West Indies at Madras in 1987-88.
Full name | Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri |
Born | 27 May 1962, Bombay , Maharashtra |
Major teams | Mumbai, Glamorgan, India. |
Batting style | Right-hand bat |
Bowling style | Slow Left Arm Orthodox |
Career statistics | |
Test debut | New Zealand v India at Auckland - Jan 24-28, 1976 |
Last Test | Australia v India at Perth - Feb 1-5, 1992 |
ODI debut | New Zealand v India at Christchurch - Feb 21, 1976 |
Last ODI | India v South Africa at New Delhi - Nov 14, 1991 |
First-class span | 1975/76 - 1991/92 |
List A span | 1975/76 - 1991/92 |