YEsterday I was watching cricket and heard some comments from Shastri about the inability of our batsman to rotate the strike with singles , especially in middle overs , resulting in pegging the runrate.And whenever Shasrti comments about pacing the innings I feel why was he not so wise during his cricketing days.
Shastri in my view was a horrible batsmen and it was big pain to watch him play, especially in the fag end of his career.It was a blessing for the side if he returned to the pavilion rather than occupy the crease in one dayers and if he had a big score , it was sure that our team will loose , as he would have gobbled up all the overs.Ofcourse he was quite instrumental in winning the world cup series sometime in 85 and is said to have played phenomenally , but I was never a witness to his grand batting display in those days and all I can remember of him , was his in teh role of a sheet anchor .At some point, he was even opening the innings along with Srikanth and if Srikanth was tearing apart the attack at one end , here was this guy who used to waste the complete over without even bothering to take a single and here now he is doling out expert comments on other players.Be it the first over or the 50th over , the situation had very little effect on his beautiful batting style .If it was a test match or if he was nearing his century , you can safely switch of the TV for your own good.The only innings which I remember him playing positively was a test match against Aussies which ended in a tie in Chennai , he was quite brilliant in that match , else better to forget him as a nightmarish batsman.He did chip in a bit as a regular spinner , but nothing in the mould of a match winner. But still he did have a long long innings , which was more detrimental to Indian cricket than anything else.
He was the most hated cricketer personally , but time is a great healer and I like him in his new role as a commentator. He is one of the finest among the commentators from India along with Gavaskar.But the only logic which escapes me is, why these great analytical thinking minds did not apply the same thoughts during their cricketing innings?Maybe life is easier to watch cricket on TV than being actually on the field in midst of all the action.