CHENNAI: In 1981, an 18-year-old was flown to New Zealand as a replacement for the injured Dilip Doshi. While he had been primarily picked as a left-arm spinner, he batted No 10 in his debut Test at Wellington. A little over a year later, he was opening the batting for India at the Oval, scoring an impressive 66. From there on, for a decade, Ravi Shastri turned out to be a key presence in the Indian team, even emerging as Champion of Champions in the World Series title win in 1985.
Considered as one with a shrewd cricketing brain, his career was cut short by a knee injury. From there on, Shastri seamlessly transferred himself from the dressing room to the commentary box after retirement to keep up with the sport. So, to say he jogged with Indian cricket all along would not be an understatement. Behind the mic, apart from calling some of India’s highest points, he has also been recognised as a voice of Indian cricket, more specifically the BCCI. The past seven years, barring a 12-month hiatus, has seen him back in the Indian dressing room — first, as team director and then, as head coach, who guided the team to successive Test series wins in Australia.
Having travelled around the globe and closely watched the game for 40 years now, he has been a fly on the wall in many cricketing surroundings, rubbing shoulders with the past and present greats of the game. In the book, Stargazing: The Players In My Life, co-authored by veteran journalist Ayaz Memon, Shastri shares his experiences of watching his idols, getting to know the stalwarts, playing with them and observing a few from the commentary box, coaching the present stars and those who come up for discussion in the drawing board.
Shastri has always been a man of stories and he doesn’t disappoint in the book. He has always had an opinion or two and that is how it is right through the book. Be it praise or criticism, he gets precisely down to the point without any sugar-coating. Beginning with Gary Sobers to Sunil Gavaskar to Zaheer Abbas, Sachin Tendulkar to Virat Kohli, he shares the bond he has developed with these personalities over the years. For a player who played hard on the field and never shied away from showing the colour of the drink, it hardly surprises how much he was inspired by Ian Chappell’s brand of cricket.
In his attempt to describe the players he enjoyed watching, he also gives a sneak peek into some of their personal sides. How much he misses Malcolm Marshall, Martin Crowe and Dean Jones — all of whom have departed to a better world — is there to see. So is the warmth and friendship he shared with the cricketers from Pakistan, including the great Zaheer Abbas. He is lavish in his praise and when he speaks — it really does feel like Shastri himself is reading this out in his clear, loud voice — about his idol Gundappa Viswanath, he still seems to be awed by him. Similarly, he sheds light on how much Richie Benaud played a role in his career as a commentator.
Even as characters keep changing, attention to detail is present right through the book. Just like how he was behind the mic, his analysis is sharp in dissecting each player. For a man who has stories to tell for a lifetime, he has kept it short here, making you long for more. The anecdotes, especially ones with a personal touch, bring a smile. There are sure to be more stories that would have made the book even more interesting. Perhaps, he has kept it for his retirement life, which will give him the time to munch on some old memories and bring them out in another wonderfully worded book.
Stargazing: The Players in My Life; Ravi Shastri, published by HarperCollins, is available online and in retail stores for D699.