Blast From The Past: Ravi Shastri hits 6 sixes in an over

Ravi Shastri was a very much granitic cricketer in his playing days.

In this Mumbaikar’s early days, he was more of a left arm spinner and a lower order batsman who used to bat at number 10. However, he demonstrated his improved batting abilities soon and wasn't promoted as a middle order batsman but a staring opening batsman. In his time, he was very much the glamour boy in Indian cricket with his ravishing personality. But then, critics were on point criticizing his slow approach towards scoring runs. Not only this, but some people also started claiming that he was in the team only because Sunil Gavaskar was the captain. But Shastri didn’t say a word and preferred answering those critics with his performance on the field. Being a little phlegmatic, Shastri himself admitted that he wasn't an exceptionally talented cricketer but indeed, had come up through his own hard work, strength and determination for the game.

Image// Sportskeeda

Recollecting the milestones he has achieved, that staggering moment surely comes to our mind when he scored 6 sixes in an over. Let me take you through the feat here.

On 10 January, 1985, it was the third day of the Ranji Trophy match between Mumbai and Baroda. The action of previous 2 days was such that Mumbai had won and toss and elected to bat first, trying to score a heap of runs and then demolish Baroda with a strong bowling line up. Bombay declared their innings at 371 after one of their openers; Ghulam Parkar scored a delightful knock of 170 runs. However, Mohinder Amarnath and Suresh Keshwala had made up their mind for giving a tough fight as they scored 88 and 100* respectively, helping the scoreboard to show the total of 330 runs at the declaration.

   

The real action was yet to come when Ravi Shastri came out to bat at the fall of fourth wicket in the second innings. As said earlier, he was often criticized for his defensive play. Shastri would have loved to send invites to his critics to watch the match on that day as what one saw on that day was a massive transformation from a defensive to an aggressive Shastri. His battling and war-ridden intent left everybody in awe as he brought up his century in only 80 balls. Everyone had a thought at the back of their minds that Shastri was here for something big and to answer every critic right to his face.

 

However, this wasn't the end as then came the carnage. Shastri went after the left-arm part time spinner Tilak Raj like a hungry predator to plunder six sixes in an over which also included him passing the mark of 150 runs. Out of the six sixes, 3 flew over long on, 2 of them went straight over the bowler’s head and 1 was deposited over mid-wicket. Ravi Shastri equalled the record of all-time great Sir Garfield Sobers who had also smashed 6 sixes in an over to Malcolm Nash in English county in the year 1968.

Ravi Shastri with his mother at the airport
Image// Mid-Day

On the 50^th birthday of Ravi Shastri, her mother shared an amazing story about this incident. When asked, what was Ravi’s reaction when he came home and how did you react to this achievement?, she says, “Ravi would never talk about himself at home. Like, on the evening he hit six sixes in an over, he came home and started packing for the next match. I asked him what happened in the match and he just wouldn’t answer me. 'Watch the 7.30 pm Marathi news' he said. Before that, I went to buy some groceries and a bhelpuri wallah told me that he had hit six sixes.”

Yes, it is a strange thing not to boast and tell anyone about a grand milestone that you have achieved but then as it reflects in this article, Ravi Shastri was one of his own kinds. Today, he serves the game from the commentary box making some good coverage for the audience and in recent times plays the role of the diector of the Indian team.