To the fans

INTRODUCTION

As a young boy, the name Garfield Sobers resonated with me deeply. My mother introduced me to him by gifting me a book, Cricket Advance, which he had written. My father followed up with stories of his all-round prowess. Sobers’s amazing record, his style, his commitment to hard work – it all seemed magical. What a role model for a budding cricketer!

Sobers, as I learned later, had worked as an errand boy at a furniture factory in Barbados at the age of fourteen. He had also played cricket, using whatever was at hand, whenever he could – and become the world’s greatest all-rounder.

The impact of Sobers and his genius on me is incalculable. I could never reach the same heights in my career, of course. Nobody has, in my opinion. He remains (for me) the most versatile and compelling cricketer of all time. He was my earliest inspiration when I took to cricket almost half a century ago.

But he’s not been the only one.

As I grew into the sport, several other players also made an impression on me. The number increased when I started playing at the first-class and international levels, and has continued to do so throughout my years as commentator and coach.

Any sport thrives on heroes and role models whom fans want to watch, and up-and-coming athletes want to emulate. Their achievements become benchmarks for subsequent generations and inspire them to aim higher, which in turn sustains or grows a sport.

For instance, no batsman has been able to better Don Bradman’s amazing run-getting, or batting average yet. I doubt anyone ever will. But Bradman has been like a beacon for every aspiring batsman of every generation – his own and since – to imitate.

The learning, if you are a student of the game, is never-ending, and not just restricted to skills and technique. As an eighteen-year-old youngster in the Indian dressing room, I was consumed by how Sunil Gavaskar prepared mentally for a match. At fifty-eight, and in the dressing room in an altogether different capacity, I find myself equally fascinated by how young Rishabh Pant – a complete contrast to Gavaskar in approach – primes himself for the challenges in the middle. Playing alongside a teenage Sachin Tendulkar in the early 1990s, I could only marvel at how smartly his mind worked on cricket tactics. Even back then, he seemed to be a nudge ahead in working out what the bowler was likely to do next, all quietly expressed. Now, as coach, Virat Kohli’s bristling aggression has unerringly stoked the remaining fire in my belly too. He’s not one to cede an inch on the ground, but it’s not mindless bravado. He just loves to win. Off the field, he’s a different person. Virat’s capacity to compartmentalize his thoughts, switch on and off when required, is quite amazing. From Richie Benaud I learnt not only about cricket’s nuances, but also why a clumsily knotted tie can put off TV audiences even if one is talking perfect sense. From Ian Chappell, apart from fantastic stories about eminent players – and the skills which made them great – I learnt that you have to carry your spine with you always, on the field or off it.

The thought of doing a book on cricketers – past and current – whom I’ve admired, enjoyed playing with/against or watching, and above all, learnt from in the past fifty years, came to me in late 2016, during one of my travels for a commentary assignment. I started jotting down names as a preliminary exercise, assuming that the number would be twenty-five or thereabouts. It turned out to be forty-two in the first go, and some names were still missing!

Fifty, I decided, was a good number to settle at, leaving eight names to be added for a second exercise. That didn’t happen till after the 2019 World Cup. My responsibilities as chief coach after the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 left me with little time to devote to this project. When I finally sat down to finalize the names, the list had swelled way past even fifty.

Months in lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic gave me the opportunity to fast-track the book. The players featured here are those who not only made runs and took wickets, but also influenced cricket in a big way and drew in more fans with their skills and accomplishments.

I’ve had to overlook some current stars like Rishabh Pant, Babar Azam, Marnus Labuschagne, Pat Cummins, Mohammed Shami, Cheteshwar Pujara, Jasprit Bumrah, Ajinkya Rahane – to name a few – but only because they are still building their body of work. I can see these and many other players featuring in my next collection! 

There will, of course, be disagreements with the cricketers I’ve written about, and that’s okay. All selectors must be sufficiently thick-skinned and prepared to take criticism. 

GROWING UP INTO THE GAME

A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN

Garfield Sobers

The first I heard of Garfield Sobers was in my home in the early 1970s. Barely ten, I had begun to show some aptitude in both bowling and batting, which kind of impressed my father. ‘We have a Sobers in the house,’ he once declared jokingly to his friends who were visiting.

I hadn’t seen Sobers play when the West Indies toured India in 1966-67, so for the first few years of my cricketing journey, his stupendous all-round skills were known to me only through hearsay. A great deal of it through my father, who was an unabashed fan.

Dad was a horse lover and when he spoke of Sobers, the word used often was ‘pedigree’. He would show me photographs of the great West Indian, highlighting his sinewy physique, great sense of balance, batting or bowling, and the way he could draw so much power in whatever he did by making comparisons with pedigreed horses.

As my cricketing ambitions and education grew, I made it a point to learn more about Sobers. What I read – and subsequently saw on videos too – revealed an exceptional, multi-dimensional player who not only won matches on his own, but did so incomparably.

Videos and films give a more vivid expression to sporting action than still photographs, and Sobers’s magnificent prowess came through tellingly. Tall and athletic, he batted with panache and timing that separates the great batsmen from the very good. He could bowl genuinely fast, fast-medium with late swing either way, or switch to orthodox left-arm spin when needed.

Super quick on his feet, Sobers could field in any position, and a strong left arm meant he could throw hard over long distances. After he became captain, he preferred to stand close-in to be more involved in the game, and his lightning reflexes and keen ball sense helped him take sensational catches.

Though most of the matches Sobers played go far in establishing his batting genius, two are particularly memorable. One was when he played for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan at Swansea in his debut season in county cricket in 1968, and the other was in 1972 on a fiery Perth pitch as the Rest of the World took on Australia. I have watched these contests hundreds of times, as I am sure everyone from my fraternity and those who love and follow the game have done over the years. In the 1980s, it wasn’t so easy to get footage, which is now readily available on YouTube etc., but the effort was worthwhile to understand Sobers’s genius.

The match at Swansea was remarkable for Sobers’s lusty hitting against Malcolm Nash. After the first three balls had been hit over the fence, high on adrenaline, he went for broke, hitting the next three for six too – becoming the first batsman in history to do so in one over.

His 254 against Australia is rightly considered a classic. It is extraordinary for the quality and range of strokes, which Sobers’s bat spat out as a machine gun does bullets. A high backlift usually heightens the risk in batting, but also enhances the beauty of strokes, and Sobers was utterly, marvellously, delightfully in control in that knock. He made the Australia attack – Dennis Lillee, Bob Massie, Graeme Watson, Terry Jenner, Kerry O’Keeffe – seem positively mediocre, especially Lillee, whom he smashed ruthlessly.

I am hardly the type who gets overawed by anything or anyone, but when I first met Sobers in the flesh, on the tour to the West Indies in 1983, I could barely utter a word. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, and barely registered what he said in his sing-song Barbadian accent. The splendid athlete I had seen on videos was now a man approaching middle age, with a hobbling gait that spoke of years of wear and tear on his knees from playing cricket relentlessly all over the world. Yet, he was still very much a superstar, though he wore his fame lightly.

When I found my voice, Sobers was helpful, giving me important tips on batting – I had by then got a promotion up the order – and spin bowling when I asked him how to improve. The abiding lesson: don’t underestimate yourself, no matter the reputation of the opponent.

In January 1985, batting against Baroda at Bombay, I hit left-arm spinner Tilak Raj for six sixes in an over, which brought me level with Sobers in this rare record. The heady feeling remained with me till I reached home, where my father took me aside briefly, away from all the congratulations and visitors.

‘Fantastic, son, but remember, there can never be another Gary Sobers.’

I had taken after my old man in being blunt, and our views often clashed. But in this we were in complete agreement.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My parents, late Dr Jayadith Shastri and Professor Lakshmi Shastri, both committed and highly successful professionals in their respective fields, for not imposing their views on me, and encouraging me wholeheartedly to follow my passion, often at great cost to their own personal time.

My mama (maternal uncle) Shiva Rao, whose strong artistic streak makes him the odd man out in a family of academics and health professionals. But who, like everyone else in the family, is a diehard cricket lover. That his creative juices are still flowing is evident from the sketches of players used in this book.

Ayaz Memon, journalist of deep knowledge, rich experience and often my harshest critic. We lived on the same street in Mumbai, Mori Road in Mahim, and many years later found ourselves together even in the salubrious countryside of Alibag, a great place to talk cricket. Without his hand-holding, this book wouldn’t have been possible.

Alan Sippy, my former Mumbai teammate, a man of considerable ‘all-round skills’ even in life after cricket. He joined all the dots together to make this project come alive.

And above all, the many cricketers who have enriched my life – personal and professional – in countless ways.

COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PHOTO 1

Indian batsman Gundappa Viswanath drives for runs during his century in the third Test match against England on 26 December 1981 in New Delhi. (Photo by Adrian Murrell/Allsport/Getty Images/Hulton Archive)

PHOTO 2

Farokh Engineer batting for Lancashire during their Gillette Cup third round match against Hampshire at Old Trafford in Manchester on 8 July 1970. Lancashire won by five wickets. (Photo by Bill Smith/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

PHOTO 3

Imran Khan bowling during the second Test match between England and Pakistan at Lord’s, London, in August 1982. (Photo by Adrian Murrell/Getty Images)

PHOTO 4

Captain Allan Border celebrates after leading his team to victory in the Reliance World Cup final between Australia and England at Eden Gardens, Calcutta, on 8 November 1987. Australia won the match by seven runs. (Photo by Patrick Eagar/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

PHOTO 5

Pakistan’s Wasim Akram appeals for the wicket of Derek Pringle during the final of the 1992 Cricket World Cup against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. (Photo by Ben Radford/Getty Images)

PHOTO 6

Indian bowler Anil Kumble being feted by teammates after a perfect ten-wicket haul against Pakistan at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground on 7 February 1999 in New Delhi. (Photo by H.C. Tiwari/Hindustan Times)

PHOTO 7

Martin Crowe of New Zealand sweeps for four during the tour match against the Duchess of Norfolk’s XI played at Arundel, Sussex on 6 May 1990. New Zealand won the match by seven wickets. (Photo by Adrian Murrell /Allsport)

PHOTO 8

Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson at Lord’s during the 1975 Cricket World Cup. (Photo by Patrick Eagar/Patrick Eagar via Getty Images)

PHOTO 9

Viv Richards during the India versus West Indies Prudential World Cup final match at Lord’s in 1983. (Photo by S&G/PA Images via Getty Images)

PHOTO 10

Indian team manager and Kapil Dev having tea during the third India versus Australia Test match at Sydney Cricket Ground on 2 January 1985. (Photo by Paul Matthews/Fairfax Media via Getty Images)

PHOTO 11

Dilip Vengsarkar of India reacts in the field during the second Test match against England at Feroz Shah Kotla, New Delhi, on 15 December 1984. (Photo by Patrick Eagar/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

PHOTO 12

Sunil Gavaskar batting for India during his 88-run innings in the tour match against Worcestershire at New Road, Worcester, on 29 April 1974. (Photo by Ken Kelly/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

PHOTO 13

Greg Chappell chats with Sourav Ganguly during a practice session at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on 30 November 2005. (Photo by Manan Vatsyayana/AFP via Getty Images)

PHOTO 14

Malcolm Marshall of the West Indies in action during the third Test match against Australia at Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain on 10 April 1991. The match ended in a draw. (Photo by Ben Radford/Allsport via Getty Images)

PHOTO 15

Sachin Tendulkar in action during a match against Pakistan in Lahore in 1989. (Photo by Ben Radford/Allsport via Getty Images)

PHOTO 16

Surrey batsman Kumar Sangakkara cover drives on day two of the Specsavers County Championship Division One match against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, on 11 April 2016. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

PHOTO 17

South Africa’s Jonty Rhodes dives during a 1992 Cricket World Cup match against India at Adelaide. (Photo by Patrick Eagar/Patrick Eagar via Getty Images)

PHOTO 18

England’s Graham Gooch salutes the crowds as he reaches 300 runs on his way to score 333 runs against India in the First Cornhill Test match at Lord’s in July 1990. (Photo by Bob Thomas Sports Photography via Getty Images)

PHOTO 19

Shane Warne of Australia bowls during day three of the fifth Ashes Test match between Australia and England at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 4 January 2007. (Photo by Tom Shaw/Getty Images)

PHOTO 20

India’s Rahul Dravid rejoices after hitting the winning runs on the fifth day of the second Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, on 16 December 2003. (Photo by Hamish Blair/Getty Images)

PHOTO 21

A joyful M.S. Dhoni after scoring a century during the second One Day International match between India and Pakistan in Visakhapatnam, 5 April 2005. (Photo by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images)

PHOTO 22

Indian bowlers Ravindra Jadeja (L) and Ravichandran Ashwin (R) share a light moment during the fourth Test against England at Wankhede stadium, Mumbai, on 11 December 2016. (Photo by Pratham Gokhale/Hindustan Times)

PHOTO 23

Indian batsman Virat Kohli plays a shot during day one of the third cricket Test match between Australia and India in Melbourne on 26 December 2018. (Photo by William West/AFP via Getty Images)

PHOTO 24

India’s Ravi Shastri holds the Man of the Series trophy aloft after the India versus Pakistan, Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket final, in Melbourne on 10 March 1985. (Photo by Adrian Murrell/Allsport)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Playing sport is about self-belief and wanting to win, and no one knows that better than Ravishankar Jayaditha Shastri.

As a student at Matunga’s Don Bosco High School, it was under Shastri’s captaincy that the school won the Inter-School Giles Shield in 1977 for the first time. In his final year of junior college at R.A. Podar College, he was selected to represent Bombay in the Ranji Trophy in 1980. Just shy of eighteen, he was then the youngest cricketer to play for Bombay till Sachin Tendulkar arrived.

A year later in 1981, flown in to replace an injured Dilip Doshi, Shastri made his Test debut for India against New Zealand in Wellington. He wasn’t even properly kitted and had to borrow manager Polly Umrigar’s sweater to fight the bitter cold. He picked up an impressive 6 wickets in two innings, but India went on to lose the match by 62 runs

Just about eighteen months later, Shastri had moved up from number ten in the batting order to opening batsman when India toured England and Sunil Gavaskar was injured. Some months later, he scored his first Test century for India: 128 against Pakistan at Karachi. The same year, he was part of the team that won the ICC World Cup.

The year 1985 was a milestone for Shastri. He made the fastest first-class double century in India playing for Bombay in the Ranji Trophy when scoring runs against Baroda in just under two hours. During the same match, he became the second player in history, after Gary Sobers, to hit six sixes in an over.

The high point of his career came the same year, when he played a major role in leading India to victory in the Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket in Australia. For his 182 runs and 8 wickets, Shastri was declared ‘The Champion of Champions’ and gifted an Audi 100 car. The victory lap with the entire team sitting on the Audi is an abiding memory of India’s cricketing excellence.

An opening (or middle-order) batsman and left-arm spinner for the better part of his career, Shastri was an impressive all-rounder, playing 80 Tests and 150 ODIs between 1981 and 1992. The 1988 final Test at Madras against the West Indies marks his only outing as captain. India, trailing 1–0 in the series, beat West Indies by 255 runs to square the series.

Towards the end of the India tour of South Africa in 1992, Shastri found himself grappling with a knee injury. He underwent surgery, which was unsuccessful. In 1994, at thirty-one, he retired from Test and ODI cricket.

His second innings, as commentator, began at the World Masters Tournament in Mumbai in 1995. Sharp observations, punctuated with wit and humour, ensured he quickly became a favourite in the commentary box.

In 2014, Shastri was appointed India’s Team Director and, over the next two years, coached the team to Test series wins against Sri Lanka and South Africa. In 2016, India won the Asia Cup T20. In 2017, he was appointed head coach of India.

Credited for building a team with ‘a will to win’, his term as coach was extended in 2019. Back-to-back wins in Australia – including India’s 2–1 series win under the captainship of Virat Kohli in the 2018–19 Border–Gavaskar Trophy and India’s historic victory in 2021 – added more feathers to his cap, making him the country’s most successful Test cricket coach.

ABOUT THE CO-AUTHOR

Ayaz Memon is a leading Indian sportswriter, journalist, columnist, author. A qualified lawyer, he chose journalism over legal practice. Rising through the ranks, he has been editor of newspapers like Mid-Day, Bombay Times and DNA, Sportsweek magazine and sports editor of the Times of India and the Independent at different times.

In the course of his four-decades-plus career, Ayaz has covered nine Cricket World Cups, over 200 Test matches and more than 300 ODIs all over the world. He has also been a commentator for Star Sports and Sony, apart from several news channels.

Currently he is a consulting editor at 1Play Sports.

Ayaz has authored the Wills Book of Excellence: One Day Cricket and co-authored India 50: The Making of a Nation with Ranjona Banerji.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

Mumbai resident Shiva Rao is a self-taught artist with a passion for drawing pencil portraits since childhood. Over the years, he has sketched and made caricatures of several film, sports and political personalities.

He is ever grateful to his nephew Ravi Shastri for recognizing his talent and offering him the opportunity to sketch the cricketers featured in this book.

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First published in India by

HarperCollins Publishers 2021

A-75, Sector 57, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301, India

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2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

Text copyright © Ravi Shastri 2021

Illustrations copyright © Shiva Rao 2021

Photographs reproduced with permission from Hindustan Times archives/Getty Images. Pages 291–296 are an extension of the copyright page

P-ISBN: 978-93-5422-723-3

Epub Edition © August 2021 E-ISBN: 978-93-5422-454-6

The views and opinions expressed in this book are the author’s own and the facts are as reported by him, and the publishers are not in any way liable for the same.

Ravi Shastri asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

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