Shastri shared his choice for the greatest Indian cricketer as well.
However, the cricketer-turned-commentator singled out Jasprit Bumrah, who is widely regarded as the best Indian fast bowler of all time.
Shastri was asked to name his “top five Indian cricketers of all time” on the podcast ‘The Overlap Cricket.’
“Definitely Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, and Virat Kohli, definitely for being… I am looking at the most influential players of that era. Bishan (Singh Bedi) would have been there, but MS (Dhoni) again. MS will come in, and then Bumrah is still here.
Bumrah is young; Bumrah has still got cricket. I am saying the guys who have almost finished their cricket, so these will be the five. It will be Sunny, Kapil, Sachin, Dhoni, and Virat,” Shastri said in conversation with Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook on The Overlap Cricket podcast.
When asked, “Who’s the No. 1?" by Cook, Shastri said, “Gavaskar—I would say batting. Kapil, wow, a fabulous cricketer, and I would put the entire package at no. 1. It would be Tendulkar because of the expectations and because of longevity, for having played 24 years in the game."
“24 years is a lot of time, and he has played… 100 hundreds. He played every pace attack of that decade. He started playing against Wasim (Akram), Waqar (Younis), and Imran (Khan). Then they went on to the Aussies, then the English attacked Broady (Stuart Broad) and (James) Anderson. South African attack (Jacques) Kallis, Shaun (Pollock). He is pure as technique-wise and following-wise," he added.