Shastri flies to Kiwiland

Ravi Shastri felicitated by Vijay Merchant

Dilip Doshi, India's premier left-arm spinner of the time, was ruled out of the first Test of a series against New Zealand in February 1981, due to a toe injury. A security officer at Green Park, Kanpur, heard the news of replacement on radio and conveyed the news to Ravi Shastri, 18, who was representing Mumbai against Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final. The left-arm spinner batted at No. 10 and took six wickets on his Test debut at Wellington.