A Mumbai moment to cherish

One of the things that came up in the aftermath of Indiarsquos 13 loss to Australia in the 202425 BorderGavaskar Trophy series was the nonparticipation of the big guns in domestic redball cricketRohit Sharma last figured in a Ranji Trophy game in November 2015 when Mumbai clashed with Uttar Pradesh at the Wankhede Stadium Virat Kohlirsquos last Ranji Trophy game was the Delhi v Uttar Pradesh tie at Ghaziabad in November 2012 That is one season before Sachin Tendulkar played his last Ranji Trophy game for MumbaiThe above two mentions provide damning evidence of how little importance the national championship holds for star players and the establishmentThere was a time when Ranji Trophy games used to be held in between Test series and that did not stop the India regulars from featuring in them A weekrsquos gap between the conclusion of the 198485 India v England Kolkata Test and the next Test at Chennai afforded an opportunity for the Mumbai players in the Indian teammdashskipper Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastrimdashto be part of the January 810 Bombay v Baroda Ranji Trophy game at the Wankhede StadiumDilip Vengsarkar would have been the third current India player in the Mumbai playing XI but he reportedly reached the ground after skippers Gavaskar and Kiran More walked out to toss In the previous game against Gujarat Shastri and Raju Kulkarni found themselves out of Gavaskarrsquos playing XI when they reached lateOn the final day of the drawn game against Baroda Shastri smashed an unbeaten double centurymdashwhich included six sixes in an over off Barodarsquos leftarm spinner Tilak RajThe firstclass cricket feat meant Shastri joined Garry Sobers in the six sixesinanover club Sobers had done it in 1968 while playing for Nottinghamshire off Glamorganrsquos Malcolm Nash at Swansea in the County ChampionshipsThe six sixes took Shastri from 147 to 183mdashall those hits to the Garware EndThe feat got everyone excitedmdashShastrirsquos Bombay teammates the small bunch of spectators and the press gang who had a good close look at the audacious strokeplay at the pavilion end In that press enclosure was Dicky Rutnagur the Indianborn UKbased welltravelled writer who had also witnessed Sobersrsquo 1968 featAt the playersrsquo enclosure Austin Coutinho the wellknown caricaturist was watching the action as a Mumbai probable The former fast bowler told me on Wednesday that he called the Mumbai players out of the dressing room after Shastrirsquos third strike sensing something special was about to unfold Coutinho felt the sixth six of the over was the best because ldquoRavi created that six hitting it from wide outside off stump over midwicketrdquoAmong the Baroda reserves was Mumbaibased Vijay Alva the allrounder who was Shastrirsquos Bombay University teammate ldquoAll his sixes were good except one which could have been caught It was a mix of power and excellent timing with that Symonds batrdquo Alva now a fitness guru told meThe six sixes were the icing on the cake for Shastri who crossed several milestones during the gamemdashgoing past his previous highest score of 161 crossing 3500 runs in firstclass cricket reaching 50 wickets for Bombay in the Ranji Trophy and 200 scalps in firstclass cricketHis India teammate Mohinder Amarnath watched the innings too since he had shifted to Baroda from Delhi for that seasonAs for Tilak Raj an India U19 Test centurion in 197879 he was devastated to the point of refusing requests to be photographed with his slayerShastrirsquos feat was splashed all over Wisden of 1986 said ldquoThat six sixes in an over gave him Shastri 12 sixes in his innings an Indian record and he hit one more to join CS Greenidge GW Humpage and Majid Khan on 13 Only the former New Zealand captain JR Reid with 15 has hit more Shastrirsquos doublehundred was also a world record coming in 113 minutes off 123 ballsrdquoShastri himself touched upon his feat in a column for Sportsworld magazine ldquoThe match was heading towards a listless draw Since it was a benefit match for the former Bombay mediumpace bowler Abdul Ismail I decided that I would entertain the moderate crowd that was presentrdquo wrote Shastri going on to describe each six ldquoThe first ball of the over was tossed up and I hit it over the midon boundary The second was a rather similar delivery this time on the leg stump I gave the ball a good heave and it landed outside the boundary line between midwicket and midon The third ball was pushed through quicker but I went down the track hit it on the rise and the ball landed near the sight screen To the fourth ball I moved down the track predeterminedly Tilak Raj had pitched the ball outside the leg stump and I took a good swing at it I think my height helped me to reach it and it went soaring high into the stands at square leg It was after the fourth six that I became aware of the record and how near I was to itI decided to go for itldquoThe fifth delivery was fastish pitching around middle and leg I lifted the ball into the stands at midon I knew now that I had to go all out it was now or never I was aware that Tilak Raj would try his hardest to contain me I took a step outside the leg stump Tilak Raj pitched it outside the off The ball landed with a thud on the sight screen I had done itrdquoWhen Shastri got back to his Mahim apartment that evening he played a prank on his mother who earlier that day had chided her son for coming home in the wee hours of the morningLakshmi Shastri told me in an interview a few days before her son turned 50 in 2012 ldquoI asked him what happened in the match and he just wouldnrsquot answer me lsquoWatch the 730 pm Marathi newsrsquo he said Before that I went to buy some groceries and a bhelpuri wallah told me that he had hit six sixesrdquoCome to think of it Indiarsquos answer to Sobersrsquo six sixes wouldnrsquot have taken place had it not been for the zeal of international cricketers to play domestic cricket Lesson heremiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper