TOP TEN GREATEST BATSMEN OF ALL TIME

Cricket is a sport which includes three activities viz. batting, bowling and fielding. A batsman is a player who specializes in batting. He is to watch and hit the ball to score as many runs as possible so as to help his team to build a large score. Since the very start of the history of cricket, there have occurred many changes at many levels, from batting equipment batting styles, attitudes etc... In the very beginning, runs were scored at so slow rate and bowlers were dominant. As the time passed by, new formats like ODI and T20 were introduced later and due to which batsman changed attitudes and played attacking cricket and became dominant. There is a lot to talk about this thing, but let's start sorting out 10 greatest batsmen ever. The list goes as follows:

10. Mahadevan Sathasivam:

M. Sathasivam, nicknamed Satha was former Sri Lankan cricketer who never got a chance to play international cricket. He was a cricketer in the days when Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon and captained Malaysian and Singapore sides too. According to Sir Garfield Sobers and Sir Frank Worell, Satha was the best batsman on the planet ever, who had the ability to outclass,even Sir Don. Its only due to his inability of playing at International level, that he is kept at no. 10; had he played at international level, could have been the greatest batsman of all time. His batting technique was amazingly perfect and could play variety shots, sort of unconventional at that time.

 9. Ricky Ponting:

Ricky Ponting is probably second best Australian batsman of all time after Donald Bradman. In a career of 17 long years, he remained the key batsman in the success of the team. The batsman, averaging more than 50 and 40 in tests and ODI formats respectively has been the second highest run scorer in both the formats after Sachin. Ponting's aggressive batting style makes him the most brilliant cricketer to watch to Sir Vi Richards. He is also a record holder for hitting second most ODI and third most Test centuries. His batting stance is technically unfair but still he qualifies to the list of ten best batsman ever.

8. Sunil Gavaskar :

Sunil Gavaskar, nicknamed 'The Little Master' is the former Indian test and ODI cricketer. He is widely regarded as the best opening batsman of all time and very first to score 10000 test runs. His record of most test centuries lasted for years. He holds a lot of records and ruled the test cricket in 1970s and 1980s as a batsman. He was excellent against the pace attack, in particular and went on to score 12 odd centuries against the West Indian pace attack of that time, the best fast bowling attack of the history. His technique was so genuine and according to Richie Benaud was close to perfect. His square drive and late cut are unmatched shots till date. 

7. George Headley :

George Alphonso Headley was a West Indian cricketer who played 22 Test matches in the 1930s and 1940s. He batted at number three, scoring 2,190 runs in Tests at an average of 60.83, and 9,921 runs in all first-class matches at an average 69.86.  His timing and placement of the ball was perfect and his on drive on back foot was just awesome. He went on to make as many as 25 percent of the total runs and two thirds of the centuries of team. C. Grimmett, the finest bowler of his time has rated him the greatest batsman, he bowled to. The great player was nicknamed as 'The Black Bradman' due to his resemblance to Sir Don.

6. Brian Lara:

Lara is a former international cricketer who is considered one of the greatest batsman of the history. Lara, a left handed batsman mastered in batting technique and compared to Sachin. He holds so many cricket records to his name like  most centuries for a West Indian,  centuries against all Test-playing nations and scored an 20% of his team runs. He is the only batsman to have ever scored a hundred, a double century, a triple century, a quadruple century and a quintuple century in first class cricket out of which 400 not out is the largest individual score in test history.He is one of only three cricketers to receive the prestigious BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year. Muralitharan has rated him as the finest batsman he ever bowled to.

Top ten batsmen :
(6) Brian Lara, (7) George Headley, (8) Sunil Gavaskar, (9) Ricky Ponting, and (10) M Sathasivam

5. Sir Viv Richards :

Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards, is a former West Indian cricketer and probably most fearsome batsman of all time. He  was a very powerful right-handed batsman with an extremely attacking style and was termed as the greatest batsman against genuine fats bowling. According to Imran Khan, Lilee, Hadlee, Botham and many other great bowlers of his time, he was the greatest opposition batsman ever. He had a natural ability to guess the speed, bounce and extent of swing of a delivery and responded so quickly with boundaries with his heavy bat. In December 2002, he was chosen by Wisden as the greatest ODI batsman of all time, as well as the third greatest Test batsman of all time.

4. Graeme Pollock: 

G. Pollock is a former south African cricketer who belongs to Pollock cricketing family. He is one of the unfortunate players whose career got destroyed due to apartheid. Pollock represented the proteas from 1963 to 1970. He opened the batting attack and scored 2256 runs in 23 matches at average of 60.97, second best after Bradman. Bradman described Pollock, along with Sir Garfield Sobers, as the best left-handed batsman he had ever seen play cricket. Standing at 6 feet 2 inches, he used to utilize his height and played splendid cover drive with his heavy bat and upright stance.

3. Sir Garry Sobers:

Sir Sobers is probably one of the finest batsmen of history. He, initially left arm bowler, transformed into a fine batsman gradually and shook the cricket world with his performances. His amazing footwork and capability of judging the flight and bounce of the ball and suitably quick response made him a great all rounder. He was a batsman with intellectual cricketing brain and went on to score more than 8000 test runs on an average of over 57. According to Sir Bradman , he was the finest batsman ever.

2. Sir Don Bradman :

Sir Don Bradman is no doubt only batsman in the history of cricket who comes close to Sachin in terms of batting abilities. Some of the critics consider him the greatest.His batting style was unique at that time. He used to utilize the crease that no one could. His batting average of 99.94 is already a great figure in the sports world. But on several grounds, he lags behind Sachin e.g. he did not play as many cricket at International level, he did not face as many great bowling and bowlers, there was nothing like swing, doosra, carom ball kind of bowling in his time. Also, even Australians, in an survey chose Sachin over him by a big margin.

1. Sachin Tendulkar :

Sachin is probably the best ever batsman of all time. Throughout the career spanning more than 23 years, he ruled the cricket world. His amazing batting technique, shot-selection, temperament and reflexes make him the greatest batsman ever. The great cricketer has almost every record in his name regarding batting. He made Indian team win several big tournaments on his own. Several great cricketers of his time and the previous time too, admit him to be the greatest ever batsman. He gave tough competition to almost each bowler of his time and invented many strokes. He is a player who has the ability to hit any sort of deliveries to boundary.

Top ten batsmen of all time:
(1) Sachin Tendulkar, (2) Sir Don Bradman, (3) Sir Garry Sobers, (4) Graeme Pollock, (5) Sir Viv Richards