206 – RAVI SHASTRI, Sydney, 1992
The 1991-92 Indian tour to Australia was a tedious affair for the Indian team which played five Tests, a triangular ODI series involving West Indies as the third team and the 1992 World Cup in a four-month-long tour down under.

India lost the five-match series 4-0 against Australia and managed to draw just one Test, which was played in Sydney. A 19-year-old Sachin Tendulkar played a big role in that draw, but the innings that made it all possible came from stalwart Ravi Shastri.

Australia had batted first in the Test and made 313 with David Boon making 129*. India lost Navjot Sindhu for a duck and Vengsarkar made 54. However, India was not out of trouble and that’s where Shastri’s dour style of play came to rescue.

He scored a marvelous 206 in 477 balls in 572 minutes at the crease. Along with a young Sachin, who made 148*, Shastri bored the Australian bowlers to death and the even picked 4/45 in the second innings of Australia to wrap up a well-earned draw for his team.  

A fair tidbit, he became the first Test victim of a little known leg-spinner Shane Warne.