Ravi Shastri Tells It Like It Is In His New Book ‘Stargazing’ | EXCERPT

In Stargazing: The Players in My Life, the legendary all-rounder Ravi Shastri looks back at the extraordinary talent he has encountered over the years.

Who is the former Indian captain who didn’t do full justice to his talent? Or that bruising bowler who went on to become a best friend? What was the most important lesson the legendary Clive Lloyd taught him? How does Shastri set aside his personal bond with Virat Kohli in his role as coach?

As a young boy, the name Garfield Sobers resonated with me deeply. My mother introduced me to him by gifting me a book, Cricket Advance, which he had written. My father followed up with stories of his all-round prowess. Sobers’s amazing record, his style, his commitment to hard work – it all seemed magical. What a role model for a budding cricketer!

Sobers, as I learned later, had worked as an errand boy at a furniture factory in Barbados at the age of fourteen. He had also played cricket, using whatever was at hand, whenever he could – and become the world’s greatest all-rounder.

The impact of Sobers and his genius on me is incalculable. I could never reach the same heights in my career, of course. Nobody has, in my opinion. He remains (for me) the most versatile and compelling cricketer of all time. He was my earliest inspiration when I took to cricket almost half a century ago.

But he’s not been the only one.

As I grew into the sport, several other players also made an impression on me. The number increased when I started playing at the first-class and international levels, and has continued to do so throughout my years as commentator and coach.

Any sport thrives on heroes and role models whom fans want to watch, and up-and-coming athletes want to emulate. Their achievements become benchmarks for subsequent generations and inspire them to aim higher, which in turn sustains or grows a sport.

For instance, no batsman has been able to better Don Bradman’s amazing run-getting, or batting average yet. I doubt anyone ever will. But Bradman has been like a beacon for every aspiring batsman of every generation – his own and since – to imitate.

The learning, if you are a student of the game, is never-ending, and not just restricted to skills and technique. As an eighteen-year-old youngster in the Indian dressing room, I was consumed by how Sunil Gavaskar prepared mentally for a match. At fifty-eight, and in the dressing room in an altogether different capacity, I find myself equally fascinated by how young Rishabh Pant – a complete contrast to Gavaskar in approach – primes himself for the challenges in the middle. Playing alongside a teenage Sachin Tendulkar in the early 1990s, I could only marvel at how smartly his mind worked on cricket tactics. Even back then, he seemed to be a nudge ahead in working out what the bowler was likely to do next, all quietly expressed. Now, as coach, Virat Kohli’s bristling aggression has unerringly stoked the remaining fire in my belly too. He’s not one to cede an inch on the ground, but it’s not mindless bravado. He just loves to win. Off the field, he’s a different person. Virat’s capacity to compartmentalize his introduction xv thoughts, switch on and off when required, is quite amazing. From Richie Benaud I learnt not only about cricket’s nuances, but also why a clumsily knotted tie can put off TV audiences even if one is talking perfect sense. From Ian Chappell, apart from fantastic stories about eminent players – and the skills which made them great – I learnt that you have to carry your spine with you always, on the field or off it.

The thought of doing a book on cricketers – past and current – whom I’ve admired, enjoyed playing with/against or watching, and above all, learnt from in the past fifty years, came to me in late 2016, during one of my travels for a commentary assignment. I started jotting down names as a preliminary exercise, assuming that the number would be twenty-five or thereabouts. It turned out to be forty-two in the first go, and some names were still missing!

Fifty, I decided, was a good number to settle at, leaving eight names to be added for a second exercise. That didn’t happen till after the 2019 World Cup. My responsibilities as chief coach after the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 left me with little time to devote to this project. When I finally sat down to finalize the names, the list had swelled way past even fifty.

Months in lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic gave me the opportunity to fast-track the book. The players featured here are those who not only made runs and took wickets, but also influenced cricket in a big way and drew in more fans with their skills and accomplishments.

I’ve had to overlook some current stars like Rishabh Pant, Babar Azam, Marnus Labuschagne, Pat Cummins, Mohammed Shami, Cheteshwar Pujara, Jasprit Bumrah, Ajinkya Rahane – to name a few – but only because they are still building their body of work. I can see these and many other players featuring in my next collection!

There will, of course, be disagreements with the cricketers I’ve written about, and that’s okay. All selectors must be sufficiently thick-skinned and prepared to take criticism.

To read more, order your copy of Stargazing today!