TOP TEN GREATEST INDIAN CRICKETERS OF ALL TIME

In the country called India, the sports of cricket is the most played and most loved sports ever. This game was brought by British who ruled this country for more than 200 years. Indian national cricket team got membership of ICC in the year 1932 and became the sixth nation to play cricket internationally. CK Naidu was the first ever captain of Indian cricket team. Since then, Indian cricket has seen numerous ups and downs, have secured some great achievements, won three cricket world cups and have played most number of ODI matches. Cricket in India is like a religion and many cricket players get unprecedented stardom and fame within short span of time. All in all, there is a lot much to talk about the Indian cricket, but now let me start writing about ten greatest ever Indian cricketers, which goes as follows. I hope you guys will like it a lot.

10. Bishan Singh Bedi

Bishan Bedi is a veteran cricketer who served Indian cricket from to as a left arm bowler and a great captain. Bishan Singh was a great left arm bowler and a great captain. He captained team India in 22 test matches and went on to take 266 test wickets at an all time best bowling average in Indian cricket history. He was a magnificent left arm bowler and outspoken and brave critic. Bishan Bedi’s contribution in Indian cricket is unforgettable.

Awards and Honors: 

ESPN’s legends of cricket

9. Vijay Merchant

Vijay Merchant was a cricketer at the time of dawn of Indian cricket. H e was an opener batsman and amazing batsman who went on to create many records in the history of Indian first class cricket. He still holds the record of owning second highest batting average in first class cricket just behind Sir Don Bradman. He was a simple and energetic cricketer, who played a very important role in the development of cricket of that era. The men just played 10 tests for India and scored a total of 859 runs at an impressive average of 47 and an all time second best first class batting average of 71. He on record books and classical history of cricket stands far ahead most of Indian cricketers.

Awards and Honors:

 "Cricket with Vijay Merchant" a radio programme hosted in his honor, Wisden cricketer of the year 1937

8. Virender Sehwag

 Virender Sehwag is an Indian cricketer who has been serving the Indian cricket since past 14 years. He is a right handed attacking opening batsman and opens the batting innings in all the formats of cricket for his national side. He is a furious batsman who never values the opposition batsman, playing his natural game always, attacking and killing the bowlers, ha never cares for the future. This very style of his makes him one of the darlings of all time. He is a lovely and humble guy on and off ground.  A brilliant opening batsman, a hard hitter batsman, he scores most of his runs by way of hitting boundaries and over boundaries and thus becomes the super batting maestro and complete entertainer. This guy, undoubtedly, has the capability to lie among top ten greatest ever cricket from the soil of India.

Awards and Honors: 

Arjuna award, ICC test player of the year 2010, Wisden leading cricketer 2008, 2009; Padma Shree.

7. Vijay Hazare

  Vijay Hazare, the father of Indian cricket, was a brilliant cricketer. He was right handed batsman, bowler and a successful captain under whose captaincy, India managed to record their first ever test win. Vijay Hazare was a wonderful cricketer with great versatility in his skillful batting. He was a tough sportsman, who always wanted to last long and went on to score a pair of hundreds in historical Adelaide test in 1947-48 and made India won the first ever test win. A brilliant batsman, impressive leader and amazing artist of cricketer, Vijay Hazare will always be remembered as “the father of Indian cricket”.

Awards and Honors: 

Padma Shree, Vijay Hazare Trophy has been commemorated in his honor, The Father of Indian Cricket.

6. Saurav Ganguly

  Saurav Ganguly is one of the most talked about name of Indian cricket history. A lefty attacking batsman, a courageous player, a worshiped leader, an aggressive captain and a great sportsman, Ganguly transformed the Indian cricket team under his captaincy. He made India learn how to fight, how to win and how to snatch victory from others. As a batsman, he was furious and promising, perhaps the most attacking batsman of Indian history. Well a classy batsman, a shorter over format specialist batsman, the most complete captain and the DABANG cricketer will always be the pride of the nation and last in millions of Indian hearts forever.

Awards and Honors: 

Padma Shree, Banga Bibhushan, Arjuna Award

Greatest Indian cricketers: (10) Bishan Singh Bedi, (9) Vijay Merchant, (8) Virender Sehwag, (7) Vijay Hazare, (6) Saurav Ganguly

5. Sunil Gavaskar

Sunny Gavaskar is a veteran Indian cricketer who played cricket for national side for 17 longer years. He was the very first cricket to complete 10000 test runs and was a run machine of his time. A Shorty, who had a wonderful batting technique, had broken all the batting records at that time. He retired with highest number of test centuries and many other achievements. Sunil was a wonderful master of art of batting, a brave captain, an unbeatable batsman with amazing skills, perhaps the best ever batsman against fast bowling and a great human being. He is still the proud of masses and will always be remembered for what he has given to Indian fans. He is just a veteran replica of Sachin Tendulkar and incomparable batsman of his era.

Awards and Honors:

 ESPN’s legends of cricket, Padma Bhushan, Border-Gavaskar trophy commemorated in his honor.

 

4. Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer who went on to play cricket for his nation for over 17 years’ span. As a brilliant right hand leg spin bowler and occasional batsman, the great Kumble was full of sport spirit. He holds the national record for taking most number of test and ODI wickets. He was extremely brave cricketer and made India win on many occasions. His bowling spell of 10 for 76 was not less than a miracle in the cricket history. His googly deliveries proved to be the lethal weapon for the opposition forever. Anil was a very talented, brave, patient, hard working, humble and unbeatable cricketer. Anil is not only the darling of Indian fans but also the pride of Indian sports history. He is a name unforgettable at any cost.

Awards and Honors: 

Padma Shree, Wisden cricketer of the year 1996, Arjuna Award.

3. Rahul Dravid

 Rahul Dravid is an Indian cricketer who has recently retired from all forms of International cricket. Rahul Dravid played test and ODI cricket from 1996 through 2012. Rahul Dravid was an outstanding right handed batsman, occasional wicketkeeper and captain of team India. Dravid was an excellent batsman with amazing batting technique, courageous wicketkeeper, a gentleman sportsman, a billion t athlete who maintained perfect fitness, best at defensive stance and a huge performer. Rahul played over 160 test and 300 ODI matches. He was extremely serious and dedicated cricketer and played many great innings on many occasions. Some critics assume him to be the best ever test batsman.

Awards and Honors: 

ICC player of the year 2000,2004; ICC test player of the year 2004, Padma Shree, Padma Bhushan, Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2000.

2. Kapil Dev

 Kapil Dev is a veteran Indian cricketer who represented Indian national side from 1978 to 1994. Kapil Dev was a right hand medium pacer with the amazing ability to outswing the ball and an attacking lower order batsman. He went on to be the captain of 1983 world cup winning Indian team. As a cricketer, they say that he was the most complete cricketer, bearing a “never say die” attitude, full of energy and commitment, too lively, courageous and hard working cricketer. He retired from the cricket with many records to his name including 131 test matches played and 431 wickets taken, highest at that time by a test bowler. He has been the pride of the nation and will always be. He was also elected “Indian cricketer of the century”.

Awards and Honors:

 ESPN’s legends of cricket, Indian Cricketer of the Century by Wisden, Padma Shree, Padma Bhushan, Inducted into ICC hall of fame, Arjuna award, Wisden cricketer of the year 1983.

1. Sachin Tendulkar

“Cricket is my religion and Sachin is my god”.

The above written quote tells complete story about the greatness and craze for Sachin by Indian masses. This name is the most worshiped name not only of Indian cricket but also the world cricket of all time. Sachin started playing cricket in 1989 at an age of just 16 and is still playing. This guy has broken almost all the batting records in international cricket so far. He has played highest number of test and ODI matches and scored more than 18000 ODI and 16000 test runs with highest number of centuries and fifties. There is a lot to say about his stats but his humane characteristics like humility, calmness, dedication and skills as a cricketer make him the greatest ever cricketer of India.

Awards and Honors: 

ESPN’s legends of cricket, part of Bradman's Eleven, Padma Vibhushan, Arjuna award, Rajiv Gandhi khel ratna award, Wisden Cricketer of the Year: 1997, Padma Shree, ICC Sir Garry Sobers Award.

Greatest Indian cricketers: (1) Sachin Tendulkar,(2) Kapil Dev, (3) Rahul Dravid, (4) Anil Kumble, (5) Sunil Gavaskar

TOP TEN GREATEST FILM SUPERSTARS OF INDIAN CINEMA

Cinema is an incredible part of Indian culture. More than a three thousand films are produced in this country in more than a dozen of different languages out of which more than 1000 are the full length feature films. The film stars, since the very dawn of Indian cinema, throughout its history, have been worshipped extraordinarily. The successful and popular film stars are knighted by the media and their fans as many names such as SUPERSTAR, MEGASTAR etc… The degree of SUPERSTAR is considered as supreme among all such honors and the factors which decide the SUPERSTAR status of someone may be one’s fan following, popularity, box office performances, consistency of giving superhit or blockbusters cinema, status of rivals etc…… Well, following is the list of most popular Indian film SUPERSTARS of all time. Hope you all will like it.

10.      Shahrukh  Khan

Shahrukh Khan, born 2 November 1965, popularly known as SRK, “King of Bollywood”, “King of Romance” and many other titles is an Indian Bollywood actor and producer. Khan rose to prominence with many hits in the early 1990s and went on to give many blockbusters from then on. King Khan has created a beloved image of a romantic hero among masses which makes him perhaps the most popular actor of past 20 years. He has been subject of a documentary and has been often called “Tom Cruise of Bollywood” due to his box office achievement. He remains one of the most popular icons of media and brand ambassadors of numerous national and International brands. For his services towards cinema and art, he has been awarded a record number of Filmfare awards along with honorary Padma Shree by Indian government. The Los Angeles Times has called him “The world’s Biggest Movie Star”.

9.    Mammootty

Muhammadkutty Ismail Panaparambil (born in the year 1956) known as Mammootty, is an Indian film actor, producer and cultural icon among the people of Kerala state in India and works in the Malayalam cinema. Mammootty is the most worshipped Malayalam actor of all time. Mammootty rose to prominence in the mid eighties with has many superhit films and went on to rule the Kerala film industry onward. He till date remains the darling of the people of Kerala, has acted in over 360 films across at least 4 languages, is a brilliant actor and sex symbol of Malayalam cinema. He is also a great philanthropist. Many of his films have been sent to prominent international film festivals and Mammootty has been awarded numerous Filmfare, National and Kerala state film awards along with the honorary Padma Shree by Indian government and honorary Doctor of Letters by University of Kerala.

8.        Dr Rajkumar

Singanalluru Puttaswamayya Muthuraju (24 April 1929 – 12 April 2006), popularly known by his screen name Rajkumar (the prince) was a great Indian actor and singer of the Kannada film industry in India. He was so much respected by the people that they used to call  him by many names such as Rajanna, Natasarvabhouma(emperor of acting), Gaana Gandharva (singer in the court of Gods), and as Annavru (beloved elder brother) in the state of Karnataka. He went on to act in as many as 220 films over a period of 45 years. For his services in the field of cinema, Rajkumar received nine Karnataka State Film Awards, eight South Filmfare Awards, two National Film Awards and a National Film Award for Best Playback Singer. He received in 2002 the NTR National Award. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate from the Mysore, and is a recipient of the Padma Bhushan and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. In his revered memory, a memorial costing 10 crores of rupees is being built in the state of Karnataka. Rajkumar, till date, remains the greatest ever figure from cinema and the cultural icon in the state of Karnataka among Kannada people.

7.    Uttam Kumar

Uttam Kumar (3 September 1926 – 24 July 1980) was a great Indian film actor, singer, director, producer and music director of Bengali cinema. Uttam Kumar rose to prominence with a series of films in the association of great Satyajit Ray such as Nayak and many more and earned the title of MAHANAYAK, the synonym of SUPERSTAR or SUPERHERO. He was a superb method actor and brilliant artist with soulful dedication towards his work. Uttam Kumar passed away at a younger age of just 53 but his contribution towards Bengali and Indian cinema is so huge that he is still remembered by the masses of India with due respect. Uttam Kumar remains the cultural icon and pride of the state of West Bengal and a metro station in his name has been built up. His songs and films fill up the new waves into the lives of people of Bengal. He was awarded first ever National Best Actor award and numerous BFJA awards as well as has been the topic of a documentary Nayak.

6.    Chiranjeevi

Chiranjeevi, born on 22 August 1955, is a film actor, producer and politician from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. He is one of the most popular actors of Indian cinema and is often known as the MEGASTAR by his fans. Chiranjeevi has ruled the cinema of Telugu for more than 20 years and many of his films have been categorized as blockbusters and broken box office records. His popularity in the state of Andhra makes him called “Bigger than Bachchan” and “The man who changed the face of Telugu cinema”. He later on went on to form a political party and gained huge success and is currently serving as the Minister of Tourism in the Indian government. He has been awarded many Filmfare south, Nandi awards along with the honorary Padma Bhushan by Indian government and honorary Doctorate by the Andhra University.

Top ten superstars of Indian Cinema:
(10) Shahrukh Khan, (9) Mammootty, (8) Dr. Rajkumar, (7) Uttam Kumar and (6) Chiranjeevi

5.    Rajinikanth

Rajinikanth, born 12 December 1950 as Shivaji Rao Gaikwad, is a popular Indian actor, screenwriter and producer who appears in the Tamil cinema. Rajini hails from a poor background and got small roles in the beginning of his career but gradually h started getting huge fan base with many blockbuster hits, one after another. He is the most worshipped actor of Indian cinema today and his popularity can be estimated with the fact that he, still at the age of 62, remains the highest earning and most loved Indian actor. Among the Tamil people, fandom of Rajinikanth has become a hereditary-character and he has been ruling the Tamil film industry since past 30 years. He is very humble, spiritual, simple living philanthropist. Many of his films out of a total of 150 in five languages, have broken national box office records and run for longest time on the cinema halls. Rajini for his services for the entertainment industry has been awarded many Filmfare Tamil, State film awards and honorary Padma Bhushan by Indian government.

4.    Rajesh Khanna

Rajesh Khanna (29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian film actor who appeared in the Hindi films. Rajesh was the first officially declared SUPERSTAR of Indian cinema and was called as the “First Superstar” or “The Original Superstar”. He rose to prominence with a series of 15 superhit films he acted in, a record that is still unbroken. Rajesh Khanna was an amazing superstar. He was the sole fashion icon of the youth at that time. In terms of his Fandom among the female fans, he is the greatest ever actor. The girls at that time were so much diehard fan of him that they used to get queued up for hours just for a single glimpse of him, marry his photographs and fill up the glasses of his cars with lipstick signs. The guy was the most popular actor among all age groups until the entry of Amitabh. He was awarded many Filmfare, BFJA and other awards along with honorary Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan by Indian government and was the subject of BBC documentary “The Bombay Superstar”. He was also elected for Indian parliament.

3.    Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Harivansh Rai Bachchan, born 11 October 1942, is one of the greatest Indian film stars of all time. Amitabh got star status after a series of flop films with the film called Zanjeer which earned him a title of “The Angry Young Man” and earned him accolades. Amitabh went on to maintain his stardom successfully from then onward and went on to rule the Hindi cinema unrivalled for next 15 years or more. His action hero and angry young man image, versatile voice, superb dialog delivery and a kind of an undying appeal from masses made him the greatest SUPERSTAR of Hindi cinema. His popularity made him win the 1984 parliamentary by unbelievably huge margin. He, at the age of 70, is still active in cine and TV industry and owes highest number of fans on social networking sites. For his services towards Indian cinema, he has been awarded many Filmfare and National best actor awards and honorary Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan by govt. of India and many honorary doctorates from all over the world. He was elected “The Superstar of the Millennium” in the year 1999 by an online poll conducted by BBC and was also awarded highest civilian honor by the French government. He, in addition, also has been subject of many documentaries.

2.    NT Ramarao

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (28 May 1923 – 18 January 1996), better known by his signature ‘NTR’ by his fans, was a great Telugu film actor, producer, director and politician from the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. NTR started his film career in early 1940s and went on to earn prominence with his Robin Hood style of roles. Many of his films like Maya Bazaar are still most watched and talked about. His on screen roles made him the real life messiah of the masses of Andhra through over 350 films he acted in. Later on he went on to set up a political party called TDP in Andhra and was elected for assembly for a record 9 times and served as the chief minister of the state for three times. He, even today, remains the unrivalled cultural icon of Telugu people and loved with huge respect by masses. He was awarded Filmfare and National awards along with honorary Padma Shree award, the fourth highest civilian honor of India and honorary doctorate by Andhra University. Recently, in a poll conducted by CNN-IBN, NTR was chosen as the greatest ever Indian actor of all time.

1.    MG Ramachandran

Marudhur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 – 24 December 1987), popularly known as MGR was an Indian film actor, producer, director and politician of Tamilnadu. He started his film career with the film Sathi Lilavathi in 1936 and rose to prominence. His popularity was so much of intense nature that he went on to rule the Tamil cinema for the next 30 years till his retirement from cinema. He was a devout Hindu, a disciplined, humble, down to earth personality and a great philanthropist. He founded a political party called DMK in the year of 1967 and went on to become a 5 times parliamentarian and three consecutive times Chief Minister of the state from 1977 to 1987 till his death. MGR, even after so many year of his death, remains the most worshipped actor of Indian cinema and remains the sole cultural icon of the state of Tamilnadu. From his services in acting world, he was a multiple times awardee of Filmfare and National film awards, Honorary doctorate from University of Madras and The World University (Arizona) and “BHARAT RATNA”, the highest civilian honor by the government of India, posthumously in the year 1988. In his revered memory, a tomb and memorial has been built up at Marian Beach in Chennai.

Top ten superstars of Indian Cinema:
(1) MG Ramachandran, (2) NT Rama Rao, (3) Amitabh Bachchan, (4) Rajesh Khanna, and (5) Rajinikanth

Top Ten Most Attacking/Aggressive/Dangerous/Feared/Destructive Batsmen Of History

The list is based upon the factors like the batting stats, relativity of the batting strike rate of the time one played within, consistency, destructive innings, utility of innings etc...

 10.Yuvraj Singh 

Yuvraj Singh of India is one of the most attacking batsmen of this time. He is an ODI specialist batsman and bats at number 4 or 5 in ODIs and T20. His wonderful batting record in T20s has given him the name of "the king of 20-20". His fine stroke playing capability, a master class six hit, destructive batting in slog overs etc... make him one of the most dangerous batsman of all time. His record of hitting 6 sixes in a single over and record fastest fifty off 12 balls and his role in win of 2007-T20 and 2011-ODI CWCs make him one of the most useful players of the game too.

9. MS Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is one of the most attacking batsmen of recent times. In his debut days, he was viewed as more than anyone in terms of destruction, attacking batting and all. He has been the most consistent ODI batsman of past 8 years and is still serving with the same capability and rhythm. He is good at hitting sixes and there is a long list of innings where he singlehandedly attacked the bowlers and won the match for his team. His innings of 183* and 91* in the finales of CWC 2011 are remarkable here.

 8. Kapil Dev

Mentioning Kapil Dev over here, is important due to his wonderful strike rate of above 95, the best of his times in ODI format and many useful innings played at that time. His innings of 175 against Zimbabwe under very tough times and capability of destroying the opposition bowler and natural aggression in batting makes him deserving candidate of this list. He was one of the hardest hitters of the history and called as HARYANA HURRICANE also.

 7. Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle of WI side has represented himself as one of the most destructing batsman of the recent time in the field of cricket. His batting record especially in the professional T20 format has been remarkable. His capability of hitting longer sixes without stepping up along with the least effort makes him on e of the most dangerous batsman of all time. His contribution in recent T20 CWC win is memorable.

6. Shahid Afridi

Shahid Afridi of Pakistan is without argument one of the most destructive batsman of all time. His records of best ever strike rate of 116 and 86 and nearly 150 respectively in ODI, test and T20 makes him fastest scoring player. He also holds the record of most number of sixes in ODI, fastest ODI hundred of just 37 balls in his first ever innings. He holds many records of hitting multiple boundary shots in single over on many occasions. His batting style on some occasions is far more than destructive. He deserves to be under any list of top ten destructive and most dangerous batsman of all time. 

Top ten destructive batsmen :
(6) Shahid Afridi, (7) Chris Gayle, (8) Kapil Dev, (9) MS Dhoni, and (10) Yuvraj Singh

 5. SachinTendulkar

  Sachin is the name in the history of cricket which makes half of the history itself. Sachin's batting style is close to perfect. No need to say that he holds almost every batting record of any format of game. Sachin is credited to revive the aggressive batting style with the introduction of fearlessness of hitting airy strokes with remarkable success very frequently. Famously, once he said, “if you can't go for sixes, leave cricket". In terms of batting technique, he is most perfect batsman. Many of the super strokes are invented by him. His tendency of hitting brilliant strokes in the power play overs and scoring a large portion of runs by way of boundaries and sixes, makes him one of the most attacking and the way he has crushed and killed like the greats of Akram, Warne, Qadir and all, makes him one of the most dangerous too.

 4. Adam Gilchrist

Adam Gilchrist is ex Australian wicket keeper batsman who is retired now. Adam is considered one of the most furious batsmen of all time, capable of daylight hunting of any bowler. An specialist and long time serving opening batsman of Oz ODI side, he went on to score more than 9000 runs in ODI at an aggressive strike rate of 96. He used to kill every leading bowler of the opposition and recorded an strike rate of above 81 in test career too. None of his 17 ODI tons went in vain which gives him credit of being ultra consistent. His contribution in the three consecutive CWC victories is immemorable.

3. Sanath Jayasuriya

 S Jayasuriya was seen as most dangerous batsman of the latter half of the decade of 1990s. He holds the record of fastest fifty of ODI which came of just 17 balls against Pakistan and second highest number of sixes. He was a left hander and most destructive batsman who used to hit sixes with utmost effortlessness. He hit multiple sixes on many occasions. He also hit fast centuries on many occasions. He played the innings of 189 against India, one of the greatest innings of all time. Scored a total of more than 20000 runs in all format with ODI strike rate of above 91.

2. Virender Sehawag

V Sehwg of India is considered the most dangerous batsman of the past decade. He is such an attacking batsman that he scores seventy percent of the runs by way of boundaries and sixes. He holds the world record of fastest triple hundred in test and fastest hundred in ODIs for an Indian. He is specialist of hitting boundaries in power play overs and is brilliantly master in hitting cover drive and upper cuts. His fearless batting and natural hitter persona makes him the most dangerous of all time but he lacks behind Sir Viv in terms of consistency and ODI stats. Sehwag has hunted almost every bowler of his time.

 

1. Viv Richards

Sir Viv is assumed to be the most destructive batsman of all time. He was a batsman who always used to respond to the sledging by way of attacking batting and destroying strokes. Sir Viv secured a career strike rate of 90.88 i ODIs which was the best for a batsman of his time. Sir Viv had an amazing capability of judging the speed, bounce of swing of the delivery and attacking it harshly. He scored more than 8500 test and 6500 ODI runs with the averages of 51 and 47. His ODI innings of 189 and 181 are still considered the best. His contribution within the CWC wins of 1975 and 1979 by the side of WI is remarkable. Almost every bowler who bowled this great man assumes him to be the most dangerous to bowl.

Top ten most destructive batsmen:
(1) Sir Viv Richards, (2) Virender Sehwag, (3) Sanath Jayasuriya, (4) Adam Gilchrist, and (5) Sachin Tendulkar

TOP TEN GREATEST ALLROUND CRICKETERS OF ALL TIME

10.Lance Klusener: 

Lance Klusener is an ex South African left  handed batsman and right arm medium pace bowler who was a hard hitting batsman and dangerous bowler. He went on to play 49 test and 171 ODI matches throughout his career and scored more than 1900 test and 3500 ODI runs at good averages and took 80 test and 192 ODI wickets. His all round stats in ODI are unmatched.

9. Shaun Pollock:

Shaun Pollock is an ex South African cricketer who has served South African cricket for a long long time. The brilliant right hand swing bowler and right handed lower order batsman has done wonderful job as a cricketer and a captain also. Shaun has got 393 ODI and 421 test wickets at very best average and has scored many great batting innings also.  He has scored above 3500 runs in ODI and test each at respectable average.

8. Chris Cairns:

No such a list can ever be completed without mentioning the name of Chris Cairns of New Zealand. He was a brilliant right hand bat and right hand fast medium bowler who was brilliant in attacking the bowlers and taking crucial wickets for his team. The guy also held the record for hitting most number of sixes in the test cricket for many years. He took 218 wickets in 62 tests and 201 wickets in 215 ODI at respectable average and scored 3320 test and above 4900 ODI runs at fast strike rate and good batting average.  He was a top class balanced allrounder.

7. Jacques Kallis:

Jack Kallis is a brilliant batting all-rounder of the game. He has been serving south African side since 1995 and plays in middle order batting. He is a master class batsman and a good medium pacer too. He has scored more than 10000 ODI and 12000 tests runs at the very best batting average and has taken a total of over 500 wickets in all formats of the game. His usefulness as a bowler is amazing. His consistent performance makes him greatest all rounder of the last and a half decade.

6. Kapil Dev:

Kapil Dev is an ex Indian cricketer who has been a great medium pacer with extraordinary capability to bowl out swinger, a very serious and laborious cricketer, a super attacking batsman and a brilliant world cup winning captain. He was termed greatest Indian cricketer of the last century. He took 434 test and 253 ODI wickets and played 131 test and 225 ODI matches and scored more than 5200 test and 3700 ODI runs with extraordinary average and strike rate of above 95 in ODI.

Top ten allround cricketers:
(6)  Kapil Dev, (7) Jacques Kallis,(8) Chris Cairns, (9) Shaun Pollock and (10) Lance Klusener

5. SIR RICHARD HADLEE:

Sir R Hadlee belongs to the historical Hadlee cricket family of New Zealand and is the greatest new Zealand cricketer of all time. A right arm medium fast swing bowler and a left arm attacking lower order batsman, Richard was a brilliant all-rounder. He finished his career with 431 test and 158 ODI wickets with average of around 22 and scored over 3000 test runs with average of 27. He was a good hitter and very first bowler to get 400 test wickets.

  4. SIR IAN BOTHAM:

Sir Ian Botham is the ex English cricketer who played 103 test and 116 ODI matches for his national side. A brilliant right arm medium pacer and an attacking right hand batsman, he took total of 383 test and 145 ODI wickets at average of 28 and scored 5200 test runs at average of more than 33. He is the only batsman who has taken 5 wicket haul and scored a hundred in the same test match on 6 occasions. There are many such records in his name that are still unbroken, he deserves to be in top fie all-rounder cricketers in any such a list.

3. KEITH MILLER:

Keith Miller is the greatest all-rounder of Oz history. He was a fine right hand batsman and brilliant right arm fast bowler who scored more than 2900 test runs at average of around 37 and got 170 wickets at nearly 22. He was a tall aggressive cricketer and sex symbol of that time. He scored 7 hundreds and 13 fifties and got 7 five wicket hauls. In first class cricket, his batting average stands at above 48.

 

2. IMRAN KHAN:

Imran Khan is an ex Pakistani cricketer who has played cricket for nearly 20 years for his nation. Imran Khan had all the capabilities of a near to perfect all rounder as he had been a good bowler, good batsman, a great athlete and a great captain who led his team to their only world cup win. As a bowler, he was master of swing bowling with all three kind of swing bowling. He, perhaps, is the only cricketer of the history who could open the inning with both bat and bowl. He finished his career with the ODI and test bowling averages of 26.61 and 22.81 with 182 and 362 wickets respectively and batting average of 33.41 and 37.69 with more than 3700 runs in each format. He is no doubt the greatest all-rounder of the history of cricket.

1. SIR GARRY SOBERS:

 SIR Garfield Sobers was a great left hand batsman and left arm chinaman bowler of 1950s through early 1970s. He is often called the greatest all rounder of all time as he scored more than 8000 test runs at an excellent average of more than 57 and got 235 wickets at the average of 34. He is also known to be the finest left handed batsman of all time and perhaps the greatest cricketer of West Indies ever.

Top ten allround cricketers:
(1) Sir Garry Sobers, (2) Imran Khan, (3) Keith Miller, (4) Ian Botham, (5) Sir Richard Hadlee

TEN GREATEST BOWLERS OF ALL TIME

10. Anil Kumbley:

Anil Kumabley, nicknamed "jumbo" is a former Indian leg-spinner who is a legend in himself. He deserves as much higher place in the indian history of cricket as possessed by the greats like Gavaskar, Kapil and Sachin. Kumbley, a tall and attractive guy, initially wanted to serve as a fast-bowler but later on emerged as a brilliant leg spin bowler with the great skill of bowling googly  perhaps at the best all over. He holds a record of 619 test and 337 ODI wickets, highest for any Indian bowler in any format. His spell of 10/74 against Pakistan at Delhi is considered to be the greatest of all time.

9. Waqar Younis:

 Waqar Younis is a former Pakistani cricketer who was a genuine fast bowler and fastest of his time. An aggressive fast bowler with the great ability of swinging the ball three ways, in, out and reverse. He was also good at bowling accurate and deadly bouncers and yorkers. He holds many records of test and ODI cricket, including third highest ODI wickets of all time, 416 ODI wickets at 23.84 and 373 wickets at 23.56. He also holds the world record of taking most no. of ODI five-wicket hauls. He played a key tole in the famous 1992 CWC win by Pakistan. He deserves to be in any list of all time greatest bowlers.

8. Clarrie Grimmett:

Late C. Grimmett was a former Oz cricketer who was a genuine leg-break googly bowler of his time. He went on to play between 1925 and 1936. He was the best bowler of his era and was a aprt of the Oz side captained by Sir Don Bradman. He played a total of 37 tests and took 216 wickets as a whole at an average of around 24. He was a master of the leg-spin of his time with the ability to bowl googly at high accuracy.

7. Glenn Mcgrath:

Glenn Mcgrath is the former Australian bowler who was a brilliant seam and wing bowler  According to me, personally, he is the deadliest pace bowler of the era 1993-2007,he played within. He was a bowler with utmost accuracy, brilliance and consistency. He, rather not a speed express, was highly accurate and targeted the best batsman of the opposition including Sachin, Lara and many more of that time. He went on to take 563 and 381 Test and ODI wickets respectively at an average of around 21. He holds may records in the cricket history and known to be one of the invincible bowlers of all time who always dominated even the top class batsmen. He deserves to be in surely any of such lists,

6.Sydney Barnes:

S. Barnes was an English cricketer who served the international cricket from 1901 to 1914. He was a bowler who had a great variation in his bowling. He was mainly a fast-medium bowler, but highly accurate in terms of length and bounce of the delivery. He also used to vary the pace of the bowl highly and was able to finger-spin and accurate yorkers, forcing batsmen o play the ball. He grabbed a total of 189 wickets in 27 tests at a mere average of 16, including 27, 5-wicket and 7, 10-wicket hauls. His horrible statistics of bowling make him to be among the very best bowlers of all time.

5.Dennis Lilee:

Dennis Lilee is probably the greatest Oz fast bowler and also of his generation. He was a bowler with great aggression and "never say die attitude". He is the very first bowler to take 300 test wickets and fastest at his time to take 100 ODI wickets with the highly respectable bowling averages of 23.92 and 20.82. He got prestigious awards like "Wisden cricketer of the year" and many more for his services to the cricket. He struggled with injuries throughout the career but whenever he came on the field, made fortunes for the team. His pair with Jeff Thomson and caught Marsh bowled Lilee were the famous and regular features of the cricket. The way, he used to grip the ball, was imitated later on by many cricketers.

Top ten bowlers of all time:
(6) Sydney Barnes, (7) Glenn McGrath, (8) Clarrie Grimmett, (9) Waqar Younis, (10) Anil Kumble

4.Muttaiah Muralitharan:

M. Muralitharan is the former Srilankan off-spinner, who does not need any great introduction. He is probably one of the greatest off-break bowlers ever in the history of cricket. He is the cricketer with almost all the test-cricket bowling records associated with his name e.g. highest number of wickets in Test and ODI both,most five wicket hauls, most ten wicket hauls and many more. But only thing he is often criticized for is his bowling action and the larger proportion of wickets to be those of tail-enders. Above all Murali is a bowling maestro and probably the greatest Srilankan cricketer ever, Sachin of bowling statistics and a master of "doosra" ball. He deserves to be among the top 5 bowlers of all time in any list. With a superb bowling average of around 21 in every format, and with many match-winning performances, he is really one of the greatest bowlers ever.

3. Wasim Akram:

Wasim Akram is a former Pakistani cricketer, who is known to be the best swing bowler ever able to swing the ball all the ways possible  He was a discovery of Pakistan cricket in the year 1984 when he was just 18, in a cricket-camp by Javed Miadad, the captain at that time. He is, doubtlessly  the best student and scholar of the swing bowling, with the gifted approach of bowling it in-swing, out-swing, reverse-swing and swing with the wind. He is the very first bowler to get 500 ODI wickets(a total of 502, the second best of all time) and 414 test wickets at the respective bowling averages of around 23.5. He also holds the all time world record of grabbing highest number of List A cricket wickets. He played the very key role in winning 1992 CWC by Pakistan and served the cricket world for more than 18 long years.

2.Shane Warne:

Shame Keith Warne is a former Australian cricketer, who was the best ever spin bowler with the specialty in the leg-spin. He was the one to bowl the famous "ball of the century", the very first ball by him in the Ashes, on which he cleanly bowled Mike Gatting of England. Shane Warne is called to be a bowler able to make the ball spin even on the ice or glass surface. He was the very first bowler to get 500, 600 and 700 wickets in test matches. He finished his career with 708 test and 293 ODI wickets  A bowler, with the ability to bring high variation in his bowling from top class leg-spin to brilliant googly to surprising straight flipper delivery, made Oz side win the CWC of 1999.

1. Sir Richard Hadlee:

Richard Hadlee is a former New Zealand cricketer who was a master of swing bowling and was able to move it both ways. He is probably the greatest player ever in the New Zealand history of cricket. He is the very first bowler to take 400 test wickets. He went on to take 36 five-wicket and 9 ten-wicket hauls in test matches. He was a master of swing bowling and was able to bowl both way swing, in and out. He was so much consistent at getting wickets and was full of sportsmanship. Many of his county seasons were finished at a mere bowling average of around 15. He was a bowler to be knighted during his cricket career and finished with the wicket even at the last bowl of his career. He took more than 100 five wicket hauls in his first class career.

Top ten bowlers of all time:
(1) Sir Richard Hadlee, (2) Shane Warne, (3) asim Akram, (4) Muralitharan, (5) Dennis Lilee