Ravi Shastri walks down 6-sixes-in-an-over memory lane in South Africa

Ravi Shastri

It was the morning of a match and Ravi Shastri got a ticking off from his mother. The party animal had got back home late the previous night, after one of the parties he was famous for attending, and Lakshmi Shastri was worried that her son was not in the best state to be playing a Ranji Trophy match. As it happened, the evening before had no bearing on what happened on the field. Shastri tore the Baroda attack to ribbons at the Wankhede Stadium, hitting the fastest first-class double century in history, including six sixes off an over from Tilak Raj.

That day in January
Thirty three years ago, Shastri's six sixes gripped Indian cricket, but some memories like January 10, 1985 don't fade. "I remember the game clearly. It's the six sixes that people talk about mostly, but it was the fastest double century as well and that's a record that has stood the test of time," Shastri told mid-day at SuperSport Park.

"At the time, I didn't really realise how much of a big deal it was. It was years before the penny dropped. Only two people have hit six sixes in an over in first-class cricket. And the other person is one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Sir Garfield Sobers." Tilak Raj wasn't quite as chuffed. "I don't think it's something he was especially keen to be remembered for," said Shastri with a hearty laugh. "And he certainly did not want to meet me for a long time after."

Was the achievement all that more memorable as Shastri was primarily seen as a dour, defensive batsman? "Look, a lot of people said that I was a very defensive batsman, and it's true, I had a role to play when I opened the batting, especially overseas, whether it was in one-day internationals or in Test cricket," said Shastri."

Surprise for mum
When Shastri returned home, his mother asked how he'd done. "I wanted to pull her leg, so I said didn't score much, just five or six," said the son, inviting a lecture on his keeping late hours. Immediately after, Shastri left for Chennai to play a Test against England, and when his mother went to the neighbourhood bhelpuri wallah, she learnt the truth. The phone in Shastri's Chennai hotel wouldn't stopped ringing till he picked it up and got an earful.

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