Former Team India cricketer and coach Ravi Shastri will turn 61 on Saturday (May 27th). The former Indian all-rounder made his Test and ODI debut in 1981 and played his final game in both formats in 1992. Shastri featured in 80 Tests and 150 ODIs and was also part of India's 1983 World Cup-winning squad.
He is also a highly reputed commentator and did the job during the 2011 World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. After Indian captain MS Dhoni hit the winning six, Shastri said the words, 'Dhoni finishes off in style, a magnificent strike into the crowd. India lift the World Cup after 28 years, the party start in the dressing room.' These words still reverberate in every Indian fans' ears to this date.
Shastri became the director of the Indian men's team in 2014 from India's tour of England to the 2015 World Cup in Australia. In July 2017, he was appointed as the head coach of the men's side and offered a contract of INR 8 crore. On 16th August 2019, the BCCI re-appointed him in the role and extended his contract until the 2021 T20 World Cup.
Shastri's coaching stint saw the Indian team register twin Test series wins in Australia and became only the second international team to do it back-to-back. However, India remained trophyless in his tenure and his stint ended with the Men in Blue's group-stage exit in the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE.
Shastri married Ritu Singh in 1990, but got divorced in 2012.
Ravi Shastri's iconic quotes:
"The beauty of Test cricket is all about playing an opponent in their backyard or defending home turf under challenging conditions over five days - dominating each session, dominating each day, picking 20 wickets to win a contest. That's historically been cricket's most fascinating gift."
"Once you have a good bowling attack that can take 20 wickets anywhere, then no game is an away game. Every game is a home game. It doesn't matter what the pitch is, you have the ammunition."
"When I was the director of the team, it was about diagnosing problems: I was asked to hire and fire, whoever I wanted I could get in and whoever I didn’t could be shown the door. And it was also outlining how we want to play: to be aggressive and ruthless, to up the fitness levels, to get a group of fast bowlers to take 20 wickets overseas. And it was about attitude, especially when playing the Aussies. I told the boys if one single ‘fuck you’ comes your way, give them three back: two in our language and one in theirs." - In an interview with the Guardian.
