India head coach and former captain Ravi Shastri is celebrating his 59th birthday today on May 27. The all-rounder played for India from 1981-1992 and has been India’s coach and director of cricket since his retirement.
He has also been a top-class commentator with his voice highlighting India’s amazing victory in the final of the 2011 World Cup when MS Dhoni hit Nuwan Kulasekara for a six to win the match and make India world champions for the second time after 28 years.
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Shastri was an amazing left-arm spinner and right-handed batsman who has batted at all positions from no.11 to no.1 in his Test career. Shastri played 80 Tests making 3830 runs and picking 151 wickets, while in 150 ODIs, he made 3108 runs and picked 129 wickets. He made a total of 16 centuries in international cricket with his Test-best being 206 and ODI best being 129.
He is also one of the few cricketers to hit 6 sixes in an over in top-flight cricket, actually was the second batsman after Sir Garfield Sobers to achieve this feat. Shastri was also part of the Indian team which won the World Cup in 1983 under Kapil Dev’s captaincy and was the Player of the Tournament in the 1985 World Championship of Cricket in Australia.
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As the coach of the Indian team, Shastri has formed a tremendous combination with captain Virat Kohli and India has been the no.1 ranked Test team for five years running now and has reached the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup.
Today as he celebrates his birthday, Shastri received hearty wishes from the Indian cricket fraternity on Twitter.
Here are few of them:
