Ravi Shastri Six Sixes is a rare record in the history of the game. Shastri, whose go-slow batting was the scourge of the third Test, went from one extreme to the other the following week. Playing for Bombay in a Ranji Trophy match against Baroda at Bombay on January 10, he raced to an unbeaten 200 in just 113 minutes off 123 balls, beating by seven minutes the world-record time for a double-hundred previously shared by G. L. Jessop (Glos v Sussex, Hove, 1903) and C. H. Lloyd (West Indians v Glam, Swansea, 1976).
His first 100 came in 71 minutes off 80 balls; his second came in 42 minutes off 43 balls. Ravi Shastri slowly walked in at the number four position in the second inning of a drawn first-class match and bulldozed the Baroda attack.
Ravi Shastri also equaled Sir Garry Sober’s record of six sixes off one over to Malcom Nash. However, Ravi hit six sixes to the unfortunate bowler, left-arm spinner Tilak Raj. In all, he hit 13 sixes, two short of New Zealander John Reid’s record; apart from Reid, only Majid Khan, C. G. Greenidge (twice), and G. W. Humpage had previously hit 13 sixes in an inning.
How The Hindu newspaper splashed Ravi Shastri with six sixes in an over. The first two pictures are clearly identical. ‘The last one was the best shot really,’ said Shastri. ‘The ball was going to the fifth or sixth stump, but I knew I had to connect somehow. So, I work on it and hit hard to make it possible.
I’m happy to see my name with Garry Sobers now. Indeed, it is a great feeling to be along with the names of great players. Among the reasons I remember my six sixes in a different way is that, for one thing, there was no television coverage. As with Kapil Dev 175 in the 1983 World Cup, there was no television coverage at that time.
Moreover, South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs is the first player to hit a six-sixes record in international cricket during the 2007 World Cup against the Netherlands.
