Early Days
Shastri's ancestral origins are from a Kannadiga/Tulu Brahmin family from Mangalore.. This family has been reported to have had its ancestral temple, the Shri Vishnumurti Temple in the village Karvalu, a small village in the Yarlapadi in Karkala taluk. He was born and brought up in Bombay, now called Mumbai. His father, M. Jayadratha Shastri, was a medical doctor; whose father was Dr M C Shastri, a well-known Ayurvedic physician of Mangalore. This family is reportedly known as a family of physicians, and had a strong academic tradition. His mother, Prof. Laksmi Shashtri was a professor in National college, Bandra. . Shastri studied at Don Bosco High School, Matunga.It was only as a teenager that he took to cricket seriously. Shastri, playing for Don Bosco (Matunga), reached the final of the 1976 inter–school Giles Shield, losing to St Mary's, whose lineup included two future Ranji players, Shishir Hattangadi and Jignesh Sanghani. The next year, under Shastri's captaincy, Don Bosco won the Giles Shield in 1977, the first time in the history of this school.. At school, his coach was BD Desai, once a Tatas and Dadar Union player. While Don Bosco was not traditionally a major force in schools cricket, the R.A. Podar College, where Shastri later studied commerce, produced many good cricketers. Vasant Amladi and, in particular, VS "Marshall" Patil, were integral figures in Shastri's development as a cricketer. In his last year at the junior college, he was selected to represent Bombay in the Ranji trophy. At 17 years and 292 days, he was then the youngest cricketer to play for Bombay.
An Indian under–19 team was scheduled to tour Pakistan in 1980–81. Shastri was included in the coaching camp at the last minute by the National Coach Hemu Adhikari. Shastri captained one of the two teams in a trial game and was then asked to lead the Indian Under-19 team. The tour, however, was cancelled. The team later went to Sri Lanka, but the games were frequently interrupted by rain.
His only notable achievement in his first two Ranji seasons were bowling figures of 6-61, which he took against Delhi in the 1979–80 Ranji final that Bombay lost. While he was playing against Uttar Pradesh at Kanpur in the next season, he was called up to the squad touring New Zealand to stand in for the injured left arm spinner Dilip Doshi. Shastri arrived in Wellington the night before the first Test. His first over in Test cricket was a maiden to the New Zealand captain Geoff Howarth. In the second innings, he took 3 wickets in four balls, all to catches by Dilip Vengsarkar, to bring a quick close to the New Zealand innings. In the third Test, his seven wickets won him the man of the match award, while his 15 wickets in the series were the highest for either side.
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