Ravi Shastri was born on 27th May 1962.   Ravi Shastri made his debut for India  on 21st February 1981 even before he turned 19 and went on to play 80 Test Matches and 150 one day internationals for India.  A regular in the team especially in the latter part of his career Ravi Shastri quit the game after playing his last Test against South Africa on 26th December 1992.  Not many cricketers in the world are good enough make their debuts even before 19 and quit the game at the age of 30 at the peak of their powers,  but Ravi Shastri was a exception in many ways. 

Ravi Shastri is one of the rare Indians to complete the unique double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in Tests and One Dayers.  Ravi Shastri scored 3830 runs in Tests at an average of 35.79 with 12 centuries and 11 half centuries while picking up 151 wickets at an average of 40.96.  In one day internationals Ravi Shastri scored 3108 runs at an average of 29.04 and picked up 129 wickets at an average of 36.04

Ravi Shastri's career always bordered between the extremes.  Ravi Shastri made his debut for India as a bowler but finished his career as one of the mainstays of Indian batting.  Ravi Shastri started his career batting at No.10 but graduated to a very reliable opener.  In fact Ravi Shastri has the distinction of scoring a Test Century in his debut match as opener.  Having made his debut at No.10 more than a quarter of Ravi Shastris Test Runs have come as an ipener.  Ravi Shastri is one of the rare players who enjoys the distinction of batting at all positions from No.1 to No.10 in Test Matches. 

Ravi Shastri is known for his slow batting in both Tests and One Dayers but at the same time has a reputation for winning matches for India.  In the 1985 World Championship of Cricket Ravi Shastri batted so slowly that viewers took it for granted that India would lose the match, but Ravi Shastri was so consistent with the bat and ball that he ended up being named "Champion of Champions" in the tournament.  While Ravi Shastri can kill a viewer with his dour batting especially in one dayers in which his strike rate is 61.07,  but still Ravi Shastri  can be entertaining whenever he wants to be as he shares the rare record of hitting six sixes in a Ranji Trophy Match.  In fact in that particular match Ravi Shastri got to a double century of a mere 123 balls, with the last hundred coming of a mere 41 balls. In one Test Match against Australia at Mumbai on 15th October 1986 Ravi Shastri scored an unbeaten 121.  While Shastri took as many as 287 deliveries to get those runs, he got 6 sixes in that innings and that says a lot about Ravi Shastri and his extreme natures.

Ravi Shastri was always rated as a intelligent cricketers and one who would make a good captain for India.  As has happened in his career, Ravi Shastri got a chance to captain India only once and that too because Dilip Vengsarkar could not play in that match.  The match however was historic because India won the match against a strong West Indian team boasting of the likes of Lloyd, Greendige, Richards and Haynes  and levelled the series, but more importantly the match will be remembered for Narendra Hirwani world record performance of picking up 16 wickets on debut.