10 cricketers to bat on all five days of a Test

5. Ravi Shastri – India vs England, 1984

Ravi Shastri has been associated with cricket for a long time. First, as a versatile all-round cricketer, then a flamboyant commentator and currently as a confident head coach of the Indian cricket team.

Shastri became the second Indian player to have a bat on all five days of a Test match. The match took place at the iconic Eden Gardens against England in December 1984. In the third Test of the series– levelled at 1 apiece– India’s Captain Sunil Gavaskar won the toss and chose to bat first. India were in a precarious situation at 127-4.

Azharuddin paired with Shastri and bailed the team out with a 214-run partnership, and en route both the batters brought up their centuries. Rain and bad light affected the match. After 200 overs, batting throughout the first three days and on day four, India declared at 437/7 with Shastri batting across four days.

England were bowled out for 276 as Chetan Sharma and Shivlal Yadav took four wickets each. With 18 overs left on the fifth day, Shastri was sent out to open the batting. He batted like a rock for his 7 runs of 50 balls and saw out the Test match to a draw. The all-rounder accumulated over 3000 runs in Tests and ODIs each, alongside 151 wickets in Tests and 129 in ODIs.