It is for Sachin to decide when to retire: Kapil

[Prakat]

My memory of Ravi Shastri is chasing the ball all the way to the boundary. It would always beat him to it but he kept on running till the end. Never dived, never stopped, never put his foot down or anything but always ran to the boundary. :((

Nostalgic... :((

[Lurker]

Nostalgic... :((

I am not. Oldies remember Roger Binny as the apple-bottom-J-Lo ass, but I swear more Indian cricket fans saw Ravi Shastri's behind than Binny's. Jesus eff if I close my eyes I can still picture them moving gallantly, escorting the ball to the boundary. My eyes are burning now :((

[saket123]

That's the image everyone who has seen him bat have of him. Skipping down the pitch like a master plunderer and then stopping the ball dead with an elaborate defensive shot. :hysterical:

that move had became so popular (I think shastri invented it).. as teenagers it was an "insult" when your cricketing team mates referred you as shastri for wasting deliveries. Shastri had become synonymous with "lousy-defender-who-simply-couldn't-score-runs".

[Raghav_12]

that move had became so popular (I think shastri invented it).. as teenagers it was an "insult" when your cricketing team mates referred you as shastri for wasting deliveries. Shastri had become synonymous with "lousy-defender-who-simply-couldn't-score-runs".

and he tries to compensate for that by being over-aggressive in commentory box :hysterical:

[GautiMaan]

Wonder how he managed to hit those 6 sixes :confusedman:

[Clarke]

Who cares when he retires ? The question is whether selectors include players on merit along with current & future requirements into account.

[Khalpat]

Talking about Ravi Shastri and his brilliant innings, who can forget this match. It was Tied match between India and WI. India made 126 and WI got all out on 126. But majedar thing is Ravi Shastri Batting as an opener in an ODI and he made 33 runs after playing 110 balls and he was the only one who had hit boundary in that match. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65479.html

[Lurker]

Talking about Ravi Shastri and his brilliant innings, who can forget this match. It was Tied match between India and WI. India made 126 and WI got all out on 126. But majedar thing is Ravi Shastri Batting as an opener in an ODI and he made 33 runs after playing 110 balls and he was the only one who had hit boundary in that match. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65479.html

I did..:hysterical: NO seriously I tried to remember the game but my mind drew a blank :hysterical: :hmmm: :hysterical: Must have been a great game, Ambrose :hatsoff:

[Khalpat]

I did..:hysterical: NO seriously I tried to remember the game but my mind drew a blank :hysterical: :hmmm: :hysterical: Must have been a great game, Ambrose :hatsoff:

Yaar Majedar thing in this match was that Azhar utilized all his bowlers till 40 overs and still one wicket was left so he gave the ball to Sachin to bowl 41st over as he had no regular bowler quota left and Sachin was known as bowler with golden arm, batsman knicked it and Azhar took one of the most brilliant catch ever seen in slip and we were able to tie it. But to be frank in this tournament India had the best Pace Bowling attack we have ever seen, Kapil, Prabhakar, Srinath and Subroto Banerjee. Here is the score card of next match with Aus, :hatsoff: to Indian pace bowlers. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65480.html Is match main bhi Shastri chirkut ne 68 balls khel ke 10 run banaya tha.

[zaheer]

Yaar Majedar thing in this match was that Azhar utilized all his bowlers till 40 overs and still one wicket was left so he gave the ball to Sachin to bowl 41st over as he had no regular bowler quota left and Sachin was known as bowler with golden arm, batsman knicked it and Azhar took one of the most brilliant catch ever seen in slip and we were able to tie it. But to be frank in this tournament India had the best Pace Bowling attack we have ever seen, Kapil, Prabhakar, Srinath and Subroto Banerjee. Here is the score card of next match with Aus, :hatsoff: to Indian pace bowlers. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65480.html Is match main bhi Shastri chirkut ne 68 balls khel ke 10 run banaya tha.

PrN-CQU-r9M

[Lurker]

Yaar Majedar thing in this match was that Azhar utilized all his bowlers till 40 overs and still one wicket was left so he gave the ball to Sachin to bowl 41st over as he had no regular bowler quota left and Sachin was known as bowler with golden arm, batsman knicked it and Azhar took one of the most brilliant catch ever seen in slip and we were able to tie it. But to be frank in this tournament India had the best Pace Bowling attack we have ever seen, Kapil, Prabhakar, Srinath and Subroto Banerjee. Here is the score card of next match with Aus, :hatsoff: to Indian pace bowlers. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65480.html Is match main bhi Shastri chirkut ne 68 balls khel ke 10 run banaya tha.

I wouldnt call it the best pace bowling attack we ever fielded. Kapil was on his last leg, Srinath had just started and Bannerjee was making debut too. Only Prabhakar was in his prime. But yes it was a very potent attack and certainly right up there with the 1983 WC, which was very formidable in English seaming condition. You do hit upon a good point though. We had a good attach in 1992 and our batting was also pretty decent. Keeping was decent as well. In fact if you go further back, 1987 was perhaps our most complete team. Between 1983-1992 we fielded, atleast in LOI, pretty formidable team. This needs to be mentioned because often a case is made that Indian team hit a purple patch in 2000s. In test that is clearly true but in LOI there can be a solid case for earlier teams as well. xxx

[Khalpat]

I wouldnt call it the best pace bowling attack we ever fielded. Kapil was on his last leg, Srinath had just started and Bannerjee was making debut too. Only Prabhakar was in his prime. But yes it was a very potent attack and certainly right up there with the 1983 WC, which was very formidable in English seaming condition. You do hit upon a good point though. We had a good attach in 1992 and our batting was also pretty decent. Keeping was decent as well. In fact if you go further back, 1987 was perhaps our most complete team. Between 1983-1992 we fielded, atleast in LOI, pretty formidable team. This needs to be mentioned because often a case is made that Indian team hit a purple patch in 2000s. In test that is clearly true but in LOI there can be a solid case for earlier teams as well. xxx

Two problems with 1987 team, no out and out pace bowler like Srinath and ofcourse you need a brilliant ODI player like Sachin, Viv, Lara, Ponting to make it your best right you need these players, in this regard I consider 1991 team visitng Aus as our best.

[akshayxyz]

I think it was 25 runs in some 75 balls in a league match against Australia which we eventually lost by just one margin. This narrow margin of defeat made ppl blame Shastri for India's loss and rightfully so.

What is this "I think" - just say, I googled.

[akshayxyz]

But even then it was really hard for me to get angry at Shastri. The guy simply had lost it.. and he seemed to be genuinely trying those days. I also remember Shastri's signature tuk tuk.. he would run down the pitch (with excellent footwork mind you).. as if he was gonna hit a six.. and then defend the ball like a solid rock!.. What a head-scratcher! You can't extract water from a rock. He just couldn't perform. Poor guy.. He had his fun days though.. remember his Star Dust (I think).. cover with Amrita Singh? and his cricket show "Howzzatt"..?? :haha: Well at least he made a good career for himself.

LOL.. I thought only I ( and my batch-mates) remember that.

[akshayxyz]

Who cares when he retires ? The question is whether selectors include players on merit along with current & future requirements into account.

this......

[akshayxyz]

Talking about Ravi Shastri and his brilliant innings, who can forget this match. It was Tied match between India and WI. India made 126 and WI got all out on 126. But majedar thing is Ravi Shastri Batting as an opener in an ODI and he made 33 runs after playing 110 balls and he was the only one who had hit boundary in that match. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65479.html

Wasn't that the match where tendlya bowled last over with 5 runs to defend.

[Raghav_12]

What is this "I think" - just say' date=' I googled.[/quote'] No.. I did not. I recall following that match and had watched lasy few overs on TV. Shastri's house was stoned or something like that following that match. Commentators had claimed that Sachin threw his wicket in frustration as Shastri was not letting him have the strike.

[Raghav_12]

Yaar Majedar thing in this match was that Azhar utilized all his bowlers till 40 overs and still one wicket was left so he gave the ball to Sachin to bowl 41st over as he had no regular bowler quota left and Sachin was known as bowler with golden arm, batsman knicked it and Azhar took one of the most brilliant catch ever seen in slip and we were able to tie it.

That was great low scoring match. In between that was the first big ODI series which Sachin had played, earlier he had played some home series or few tournaments in Sharjah, and he was the only batsman from Indian team to stand up to the challenge of playing ODI on Australian pitches, all at the age of 18. He was highest run getter with highest average for India, with some margin on both counts. Batting numbers from that series. http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/records/averages/batting_bowling_by_team.html?id=662;team=6;type=tournament I am giving these numbers just for the posters who posted sometime back that Sachin was given long rope in ODI's for first 3-4 years, without him exactly deserving a position in team. It is such an ignorant statement that people who watched cricket live that time would fall off laughing. The other next big ODI tournament he played was WC 1992. Here are the batting numbers of that tournament. http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/records/averages/batting_bowling_by_team.html?id=665;team=6;type=tournament This also shows that you have to watch cricket before declaring who is great and who is not. Statsguru can help you that much only.

[akshayxyz]

No.. I did not. I recall following that match and had watched lasy few overs on TV. Shastri's house was stoned or something like that following that match. Commentators had claimed that Sachin threw his wicket in frustration as Shastri was not letting him have the strike.

LOL Shashtri was very much capable of that in those days. and - badi jabardast yaad-dasht hai dost.. I have followed almost every match since mid 80s - except for a period of 2-3 years, I could never recall that level of details. topi utaara hua salaam sweekaar karein ...(hats-off).

[Khalpat]

Wasn't that the match where tendlya bowled last over with 5 runs to defend.

No man that was different match, it was against SA.This magician has done it many times. I would just recall a match against Srilanka, Vass was bowling and Sachin was at non striker and LAxman at striker end. Just before the 4th ball Sachin shouted UPAR DALEGA SAMBHAL KE ,we were able to hear through stump mike. And it was an attempted yorker which was beauitifully flicked by Laxman for four. How he did that I didnt understood?