Ravi Shastri shares his the greatest experience ever as a cricketer

One of the cult heroes of Indian cricket during the 70s and early 80s, Gundappa Viswanath was arguably one of the greatest batsmen of his generation. A cricketer with a flamboyant technique added a touch of grace to every shot he played, Viswanath inspired many youngsters to take up cricket as a profession during those days.

One of those many names who took inspiration from Viswanath is the current Indian head coach Ravi Shastri. Viswanath at his prime made batting look way too easy and it was a dream for a budding player to watch him bat. In Shastri’s words, “On a pitch where batsmen would struggle to score 30 or 40, he would score a century. He was a genius,” he said.

On Gaurav Kapur’s chat show Breakfast with Champions, Shastri spoke at length about various aspects of his cricketing and non-cricketing life. Starting from the days when he began taking cricket seriously to some of his personal life stories, he had a lot to share. He reminisced the incident when opening for Indian for the very first time with great pride as he got a chance to play alongside Viswanath.

That was a dream come true moment for me: Shastri

When asked about his favourite batting position, Shastri said he loved opening for the side. He also recollected the incident when he opened for the very first time alongside Dilip Vengsarkar and later got a chance to play with Gundappa Viswanath.

“One of the best things I remember from that game at The Oval (against England) was Dilip made me open alongside him. When he got out early, in walked the greatest hero of my life, Gundappa! That is the stuff people dream of. I saw him and followed him so closely and here he is, in the flesh, just 22 yards away.

“He was in the final stage of his International career and people started realizing how great a cricketer he was. The only thing I remember from that game was batting with him. We added some 100 odd runs together and he got out for 54. He was a true genius,” Shastri reminisced with great joy.

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