Twitter Reacts As Wishes Galore For Ravi Shastri On His Birthday

By Yash Mittal

Updated - 27 May 2021, 03:48 PM

Twitter Filled With Wishes For Ravi Shastri's Birthday
Twitter Filled With Wishes For Ravi Shastri's Birthday.

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Former Indian all-rounder and the current head coach of the Indian Cricket Team, Ravi Shastri is celebrating his 59th birthday today.

Born on May 27, 1962, Ravi Shastri has been a part of Indian Cricket for the better part of the last 40 years and during this period, the charismatic personality has donned several different roles.

For those who followed Indian cricket in the 1980s, Ravi Shastri was the epitome of someone who, despite not having been blessed with the talent that other Indian cricketers were blessed with, worked his way to the top through sheer hard work, relentless grit and the burning desire to be the best version of himself.

Having started as a No.11 batsman, Shastri worked his way to the top and impinged himself as the ultimate grafter against the best bowlers in the world. He did not have the wide range of shots that his fellow batters had and while he was mocked by cricket fans for his dour approach to batting, Shastri more or less did the job to prime effect for his team.

Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri (Image Credit: Getty)

7 of his 11 Test hundreds came away from home including in countries like Pakistan, England, Australia, West Indies. He was the first Indian opener to score two hundred in England. He averaged an outstanding 44.04 as an opener. As a left-arm spinner, he did not have many variations and he often relied on defensive tactics, but Shastri found a way to succeed, especially in white-ball cricket. He claimed 151 and 129 wickets in Test and ODI cricket respectively.

While he proved to be the ultimate grafter, Ravi Shastri could tonk the ball with disdain as he did during a Ranji Trophy game when he hit six sixes in an over. 

Ravi Shastri (Image Credit: Getty)

Shastri’s seminal moment in his playing career came in 1985 when he was awarded the coveted Audi for his all-round performance that helped India won the World Championship of cricket Down Under.

While he may have established himself as a defensive player, Ravi Shastri was a flamboyant character who, just like his post-playing days, never shied away from speaking his mind.

The fact that he was tall and good-looking only added to his flamboyant image. 

Shastri’s dour batting approach in ODI cricket at the back end of his career did not win him many fans though and his career was eventually cut short due to back issues.

Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri (Image Credit: Getty)

Following his playing days, Ravi Shastri carved out a career for himself in the commentary box and for the better part of the next 25 years, he was the ever-constant in almost every historic moment that Indian cricket witnessed.

2002 Natwest Trophy? Check. 2007 T20 World Cup? Check. Yuvraj’s six sixes? Perth Test 2008? Check. Sachin’s ODI 200? Check. 2011 World Cup? Check. Check. Check. 

His energetic and passionate voice notwithstanding all the cliches that he used, most notably ‘tracer bullet’, became synonymous with Indian cricket, and while he often came under the scanner for toeing BCCI’s line of thoughts, he never gave in to the detractors.

Shastri has also played three different roles with the Indian team. In 2007, he was appointed as Team India’s manager post the shambolic 50-over World Cup campaign. Then in 2014, he was roped in as the director of the Indian team following their humiliating 1-3 defeat in the Test series against England. Then in 2017, the former all-rounder was officially reinstated as India’s head coach after Anil Kumble quit the job after his relationship with Virat Kohli became untenable.

Ravi Shastri, Virat Kohli and R Sridhar. (Credits: Twitter)

Shastri was mocked and criticized as fans believed that the only reason he was handed the coaching job was that he was Virat Kohli’s ‘Yes man’. His refusal to have Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan as batting and bowling coaches garnered even more criticism and things reached a tipping point when India failed to win the Test series in South Africa and England due to selection blunders before bowing out of the 2019 World Cup following a defeat to New Zealand in the semi-finals.

Ravi Shastri came under the scanner for not only dropping the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane during the tours of South Africa and England and for failing to zero in on an ODI No.4 batsman in the lead-up to the World Cup. The fact that he gave some outrageous statements in the media further added fuel leading to him being massively trolled for his drinking habits every time India dropped a game.

However, Shastri continued to everything in his stride and while the 2018-19 Test series in Australia will remain one of his biggest achievements, he reached the zenith of his coaching career when he inspired an injury-ravaged Indian team to a historic triumph Down Under last winter.

Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri [Image: Twitter]
Shastri’s message to his team “Wear 36 all-out as a badge of honour’ after India were shot out for their lowest total in Test history at the Adelaide Oval eventually proved to be the defining point of the series. His man-management skills played a huge role in a beleaguered Team India scripting history Down Under against excruciating odds.

In his own words, Shastri had flipped his reputation among his critics like a tracer-bullet and his legacy in the folklore of Indian cricket was confirmed.

 

Here’s how Twitter is wishing Ravi Shastri on his birthday:

https://twitter.com/cricholic18/status/1397797334495350784

 

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