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When the history of cricket is written, Ravi Shastri's name may not be listed among those considered to be in the elite class.

But the former India vice-captain will be able to boast of holding two unique records that probably no one else will achieve for a long time.

In 1985, he duplicated the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers' effort of smashing six sixes in an over in a first-class match.

And in the dozen years he represented India as a reliable all-rounder, he batted at every position in the order from No. 1 to No. 10. No one else in the Test cricket had done it before or since.

It is the first of those achievements, however, that will give him more satisfaction.

It's no mean achievement. It's a 100 per cent record. It cannot be broken. It can be equalled, Shastri told SUNSPORT during the fourth Cable & Wireless Test between West Indies and India at the Antigua Recreation Ground.

The fact that only two players have hit six sixes in over 150 years of the game speaks for itself.

For whatever reasons, Shastri's sustained big-hitting doesn't appear to be acknowledged with the same degree of fanfare that accompanied Sir Garry's achievement in an English County match.

Unfortunately, there was no television. Sir Garry's was televised. If my six sixes were also televised, it would have got more recognition than it actually did, Shastri said.

It's just a question of the television cameras being in the right place at the right time.

It happened 17 years ago, but Shastri remembers the moment like if it was yesterday.

It was a Ranji Trophy match equivalent of Busta Cup and he was representing Bombay against Boroda. He had already passed 100 when captain Sunil Gavaskar informed him a declaration would be on the cards in another half-hour to 45 minutes.

The unlucky bowler was Tila Karaj, a quickish left-arm spinner who had earlier taken two wickets, including the scalp of the great Gavaskar.

I just went after the bowling but I never even thought about six sixes until I hit the fourth one. It was only then I said I might as well go for it.

The sixes, in chronological order, went over long-on, mid-wicket, straight, square-leg, between long-on and deep mid-wicket and straight onto the sight-screen. The fifth, in the direction of cow corner, was the biggest hit.

By then, Shastri had been in the India team four years and had started to work his way up the order after making his debut as a teenager.

In my first Test, I was primarily picked for my bowling but I always knew that I could bat. I went at No. 10 in my first Test and after that first innings I played I started going up the batting order.

By the time he played the 14th of his 80 Tests, he was opening the batting and scoring the first of his 11 centuries 128 against Pakistan.

Even after that, he has asked to bat at varying positions and by the time he had finished his career he had opened the batting 25 times, went at No. 3 eight times, No. 4, twice, No. 5, 14 times, No. 6, 40 times, No. 7, 17 times, No. 8, six times and No. 9, once.

I do believe that constant chopping and changing in the batting order doesn't help your confidence in any way, Shastri said. I always treated it as a challenge and I relished it.

The now popular television commentator finished his Test career with 3 830 runs (ave. 35.79) to go along with his 151 wicket as a left-arm spinner between 1981 and 1993.

In the early stages, he realised that there was a common characteristic abou this positioning.

Most of the time I was asked to go up the order, it was overseas never in India, he said. In India I was batting at No. 6 and 7 on those nice, flat tracks. The moment the team travelled overseas, they would get a bat on my shoulder and say `why don't you open the innings?

So what was his favourite position, anyhow?

I enjoyed opening towards the end of my career. I really enjoyed opening the batting.

He did so for his last 11 Tests which brought him three centuries, including a double-hundred at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Shane Warne's debut, until a knee injury forced him into early retirement at the age of 31.

By the way, Shastri also holds another distinguished record. He is the only Indian captain with a 100 per cent winning rate. One Test: one win.

Records are meant to be broken, but it would he difficult to surpass Ravi Shastri's.

© The Barbados Nation