Happy Birthday Ravi Shastri: Not Amrita Singh but this heroine was Ravi Shastri's favorite

India's famous cricketer, commentator and former head coach Ravi Shastri is celebrating his 61st birthday today. Ravi Shastri was born on 27 May 1962 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Shastri is one of the few cricketers who won the World Cup for India and also dominated the world of commentary through his strong voice. Be it his magical commentary lines on Sreesanth's catch in the 2007 World Cup or his commentary on Dhoni's winning six in the 2011 World Cup. Let's know some interesting facts about Ravi Shastri on his birthday.

Ravi Shastri grew up in Mumbai.
His father M. Jayadarth Shastri was a doctor by profession and mother Lakshmi was a teacher. Ravi Shastri's full name is Ravi Shankar Jayadrath Shastri. However, his name in the passport is still Ravi Jayadrath Shastri. But commentators had a little inconvenience in the former star cricketer speaking such a big thing. So later everyone started calling him Ravi Shastri. As a child, Ravi was not interested in cricket. But after failing in badminton, table tennis and everything else, Ravi started playing cricket at the age of 1 and the success he achieved later through this game is in front of everyone. Shastri did his schooling at Don Bosco High School, Bombay.

Ravi Shastri made his Test debut against New Zealand in Wellington on 2 February 21. The special thing is that he took 1981 wickets in his first Test and also scored a total of 6 runs in both innings and did a big feat.

Ravi Shastri's affair with favorite
Bollywood actress Amrita Singh was common in the 3s. But you will be surprised to know that the favorite heroine of the Indian all-rounder cricketer was not Amrita Singh but 'Smita Patil' and her film 'Manthan' is Ravi Shastri's favorite movie. Smita Patil has been a tremendous actress of the 80s, but at the age of just 80, she said goodbye to the world. At the same time, his favorite heroes are 'Dada Kondke' and 'Naseeruddin Shah'. Ravi Shastri has mentioned all these things in an old interview given to Doordarshan.

Ravi Shastri also shared an interesting anecdote in
an interview given in the year 4, in which the host asked him that once you were caught with a beer bottle. Asked what was the reason behind it, Ravi said, "It was an anecdote during domestic matches, at that time our practice was very hard and I was the captain of the team. So on the off day, some boys decided why not drink beer. So everyone must have drunk a little that then the manager of the team comes there and says what are you guys doing, I will complain to the secretary. Then Ravi said, "Sir, only half the bottle is finished, let's sit down and finish it first, then let's go."

Ravi Shastri is then taken to Mr. Nagarajan, who was the secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association. There he was asked, "Did you do that?" Then Ravi said yes I did, then secretary sahab said you are the captain of the team, how can you do that? Then Ravi says that before you say anything, I want to say one thing. I have sat down and drank beer with my father and he is the only person in the world whom I respect a lot. Even at that time, his outspoken attitude won the heart of the secretary and even today people like him a lot due to his honesty and innocence.

Ravi Shastri, the first Indian
to bring an Audi car to India, made his ODI debut against England on 5 December 25. He also played many memorable innings for India. Especially in the final of the World Championship of Cricket tournament played in Australia in 1981, India defeated Pakistan by 1985 wickets and won the trophy. In this tournament, Ravi Shastri was given the Player of the Tournament award for his brilliant all-round performance and an Audi 8 car was given as a reward. This car was also special because it was the first Audi car to come to India.

6. The first Indian
to hit 1 sixes in 6 over is Ravi Shastri's favorite cricketer Sir Gary Sobers. Ravi broke the record of hitting 1 sixes in 6 over. Ravi Shastri holds the record for the first Indian to hit six sixes in an over. When he played for Mumbai in the year 1, he hit 1985 sixes against Baroda. Ravi Shastri has also mentioned about this record in his book.

Ravi Shastri became the director of Team India in 7 and remained in this post till 2014, two years later in 2015, he was made the head coach of Team India.
Under his coaching, Team India registered a memorable victory on foreign soil, while also becoming number one in Tests. Former Team India captain and star cricketer Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri are known for their special bond.

Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri has also co-authored a book titled STAR GAZING, The Players in My Life along with renowned sports journalist Ayaz Menon. In which he has talked about the cricketers who had an impact on him.

9. Rajiv Gandhi has been Ravi Shastri's favorite person
Ravi Shastri is liked by millions of people in the world. But when he was asked who his favorite person is, he once told that Rajiv Gandhi is his favorite. The reason for this is that when he got an Audi car in the World Championship of Cricket in Australia in 1985, the credit for bringing it duty free to India goes to the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Since then, he has become his favorite. Ravi Shastri was first introduced to Rajiv Gandhi by Sunil Gavaskar.

Talking about the cricketing career of former world champion Ravi Shastri, he has played 10 Test matches in which he scored 80 runs with 11 centuries and took 3830 wickets. Apart from this, in 151 ODIs, he scored 150 runs and got 3108 wickets.

--- also read---

'You don't have to worry,' says Dhoni to Pathirana's family
Gill's 'engineer bowler' turned 'zero' into a hero, changed match in 6 balls, Gavaskar-Bishop's commentary looted the fair, video