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 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

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

2012 : A CRISIS FOR INDIAN CRICKET

So here we are; the end of the calender year 2012 is far near and we are gonna enter 2013. This year was a major astonishing in many aspects and the same is true about the Indian cricket. This year remained a major disappointment for the Indian cricket fans. This year, at one hand , we had to face some totally unexpected losses and on the other hand, our very best players of the past two decades retired from cricket. So we can say that this year was a shocking too. We are a bit helpless and sad that we will never ever be able to watch the legends like Draid, Laxman and Sachin batting and scoring lots of runs. Although, Sachin has announced retirement from ODI only; its a major shock for the whole cricketing nation. Many of the veterans have agreed and others seem to be shocked at this untimely and sudden decision of the legend.

   Apart from the retirements this year, if we talk about the performance of the Indian squad, we come to conclude that it was nothing but a "POOR SHOW". Starting from the very start of 2012, we performed poorly well, went on to loss key matches and even got some defeats full of shame. In the month of January  we were playing the very unfortunate series in Australia and lost three test matches in a row, out of which two defeats were awarded with loss with innings and we completed the track of 8 test loss in a row shamelessly. In the subsequent month, we were not even able to qualify to the finals of the CB series. At least  such performances raise questions over the reputation of a team which is a world champion. Now, let's talk about the month of March, when we lost to a team like Bangladesh and could not qualify to the finals of Asia Cup. It was harassing and every fan was forced to criticize the team  Then, we come across the NZ tour of India, where we demonstrated brilliant game against a team which is gonna be new Zimbabwe and largely boasted of our spin attack. Then the same spin attack was killed so brutally in the World T20 by Australian batsman that they could not get even little space for hiding their faces. This was the same spin attack which pretended to trying for getting wickets in the home series against England. Prior to that, series win against Sri Lanka was the consolation win of the year.

    Now, coming to the batting, we find that no batsman other than Virat Kohli performed well in any format. Opening pair, the so called Sehwag and Gambhir, looked struggling for getting runs. Sachin's most anticipated super-hundred made him so nervous that he hardly managed to hit it in a match against Bangladesh that India lost. He too did perform so bad that ultimately had to decide to retire  Ashwin batted well more than to bowl, which is his prime responsibility and his words of inventing a new mystery bowling style proved to be all wrong. Pujara and Bhuvaneshwar were the two biggest gifts for India of the departing year. 

   As far as the captaincy and selection process is concerned, the respected captain of our Indian team, who was considered the lucky charm, proved to be a very fake leader. He, taking from selection of the team to the strategic plans, individual performance, decisions after winning the tosses to the demand of desired pitches, proved to be a fake captain. Boasting of revenge, the beloved team could not even make the series draw against the White people. And how shamelessly smart he is that every time the team lost, our dear captain praised the opposition instead of describing their own failure. There is a lot to say as the reality of the false captain, but I would end my words by simply stating that this captain was good and lucky because of the performances by the fellow players and now its an alarming condition when appointment of a new captain is badly needed.

    So, above all, we are gonna enter the new year with the hope of  Indian team to overcome this crisis and retain the image of being the true world champion.

BHUVNESHWAR : A NEW HOPE FOR INDIAN CRICKET

Recently the new face in the Indian cricket squad made a brilliant debut. The guy with his brilliant bowling demonstration amazed all the spectators and analysts of the cricket world. The guy who has recently turned 21, made a brilliant show of the swing bowling in the debut match against the arch rival Pakistan. The young lad was somewhat looking under pressure when he was chosen to bowl the opening over. He showed brilliant bowling strategy by bowling effective and surprising out swingers continuously to the left handed batsman and suddenly with a brilliant in swing, uprooted the stumps of the strike batsman and made whole ground full of excitement. In the very next over, he devised the same strategy and got important wicket of Ahmad Shehzad. In the same over, he bowled Umar Akmal, a very young talent of Pakistan, cleanly, on a very top quality in-swinger. Ultimately he finished his bowling spell with ultra-impressive figures of  4-1-9-3. The guy surprised all the cricket world with his swinging ability and greats like Kapil Dev were seen praising the man in commentary box. Despite Pakistan won the match but it was Bhuvaneshwar, who went on to win the millions of hearts. Prior to that he also had to bat, when all the Indian batting order collapsed badly and batted carefully with 6 runs unbeaten and helped India to bat for full 20 overs. Despite the fact that India lost the T20, but spectators got the full enjoyment in the first spell of Bhuvaneshwar. I think, this is the best Indian bowling debut since that made by Hirwani in test match.

The guy, with an innocent looks and perfectly sporty persona, hails from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. He has been key member of U.P. Ranji squad since his debut at 17 and has played 46 first class matches so far. He is also known for his comprehensive batting skills and scored hundred recently and many other useful innings.His 149 wickets at an average of 26 nad more than 1800 runs at considerable batting average of 30 prove his all-round status. He, in fact, has all the characteristics to become the new Kapil Dev of Indian cricket.Thanks to the Indian selectors, who put the guy in the team at the pretty right time, while he was performing well in Ranji. Now, let's wait and see, how long this race-horse runs and how many wickets he takes in the following ODI series against Pakistan?

TOP TEN CRICKETERS OF ALL TIME

TOP TEN CRICKETERS OF ALL TIME

Cricket is second most popular and most watched sport today. Although it has been very ancient game and is believed to be started in England and played by shepherds; this game became the possession of royal families and upper class people later. As time passed by, the game spread to the various parts of the globe, ruled by English government. The very first reputed tournament called "County Championship" started in the early eighteenth century and popularized the game. First test match was played in 1877. Since then the sport has made advancements by leaps and bounds, being played at many levels, in many formats, in many countries and has become a cultural symbol in many nations. But the main thing is to sort out ten most brilliant cricketers of all time, that too out of several thousands who have played the game. Still I have made some efforts to put out these ten names to be called the ten greatest cricketers of all time. Although GREATNESS does not have a basis to be measured but still this list has been framed on many grounds like the span, stats, achievements, spirit, contribution in win, consistency, skills, technique and popularity. So let's begin now with the list:

10. Wasim Akram:

Wasim Akram born 3 June 1966 is a former Pakistani left arm fast bowler and left-handed batsman in cricket, who represented the Pakistan national cricket team in Test cricket and One Day International matches. He went on to take 502 wickets in ODI and 414 in test matches. He was finest ODI bowler of all time who could bowl six different deliveries in six different valid manners. He was a fine aggressive left handed batsman too. He played key role in team success in 1992 CWC and was man of the match of the final game. He was a 17 times player of the match in test cricket. Throughout his career of 18 long years, he always remained consistent and broke records. He was a good captain and master of reverse swing bowling. His 881 wickets record in List A cricket still stands.

9. Wally Hammond:

Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond (19 June 1903 – 1 July 1965) was an English test cricketer who played for English side from 1927 to 1947. He was a brilliant top order batsman of England who scored more than 7000 test runs at an average of 58. He was the best counterpart of Sir Bradman And their rivalry is one of the most famous rivalries in cricket. He was a good medium pace bowler and excellent slip fielder who took more than 100 catches. He is also known for his bad boy image, giant personality, bold captain and multiple marriages. Still Wally Hammond without eligibility qualifies to the top ten greatest cricketers of all time.

8. Imran Khan:

Imran Khan Niazi, most popularly known as the "Lion Of Pakistan"is by far the best cricketer from the Pakistani soil. He was the most completely cricketer with brilliant bowling skills, attacking batting stamina, natural leadership qualities, best fitness levels and long career. The man is credited to be the finest artist of swing bowling, who mastered the in, out and reverse swing. By many critics, he is viewed as the most brilliant all-rounder in the history of cricket  He was a cricketer having skills and courage to open the innings with bat and bowl both. He is by far the best Pakistani captain who at the age of over 40 went on to make Pakistan the champion of cricket world. He finished his career with 362 test and 182 ODI wickets at averages of 22.81 and 22.61 and batting averages of over 33 and 37 respectively. He was the superstar of the game in his time.

7.  Shane Warne:

Shane Keith Warne is the former Australian leg spinner. Debuting in the very start of the 1992 against India, this finest leg spinner ever went on to achieve milestones in cricket. His very first ball in the Ashes was termed as the 'ball of the century'. He was a miraculous bowler whom people called a bowler with the ability to spin the bowl on even glass or ice. He went on to grab 1000 tests and ODI wickets in all and played most important role in the success of the Oz team in 1990s and 2000s. He bowled excellently in the WC 1999 and several Ashes victories. He was chosen one of the five cricketers of the century by Wisden in 1999. He was so popular and a sex symbol in the cricket media.

 

  6. Sir Richard Hadlee:

Sir Richard John Hadlee is the greatest cricketer of New Zealand of all time. He belonged to the reputed Hadlee cricket family of NZ and his father Walter was the former captain of NZ cricket team. Hadlee made his debut in 1973 but could not fix his position till 1977. After that he became a deadly fast bowler with balanced out swing bowling and remarkable batting performances and went on to break almost all the bowling records. He became the very first bowler to take 400 test wickets and was key player in making NZ win on their English,Oz and WI tours. He was awarded knighthood in 1990, only player to get this prestigious award during his career  His bowling performance of 15/123 is by far the best bowling performance int he test cricket. He finished his career with 431 test wickets at an average of 22.29 and 146 ODI wickets at 21.56.

Top ten greatest cricketers:
(6) Sir Richard Hadlee, (7) Shane Warne, (8) Imran Khan, (9) Wally Hammond, and (10) Wasim Akram

5. Sir Viv Richards:

Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards is doubtlessly the most dangerous batsman of the cricket history. He was the key player of the West Indian team in 70s and 80s. He batted in top order and killed almost all the top bowlers of that time. He played the key role in the success of the caribian team in the world cup victory of the first two editions. He was a brilliant test cricketer with a batting average of over 50 and most brilliant ODI cricketer with man of the match per 6 matches. He also captained WI team for more than 50 test matches without even a single series loss.

4. Sir Jack Hobbs:

Sir Jack Hobbs was an English cricketer who played for England in the very start of the twentieth century.He was a brilliant master of batting technique and went on to play more than 800  first class matches and scored 199 centuries, a first class cricket world record. He at the international level played 61 matches and scored over 5000 runs at an average of over 55. The man went on to play cricket till the age of 52 and was awarded knighthood in 1953 for his services for cricket. He died on December 21, 1963 at the age of 81.

3. Sir Garry Sobers: 

Sir Garfield Sobers is the most brilliant West Indian cricketers of all time. The man went on to play at international level from 1954 through 1974. The cricketer who had a reputation of being a left arm china-man bowler, transformed into a skilled batsman who went on to hit 6 sixes in a single over and became the first t do so in first class history. He is also considered the greatest all rounder of all time by many  His record for 365 not out in test stood for many years...

 2. Sir Don Bradman:

If there is any sportsman who even makes the stats amazed by his performances, no doubt he is DON. He was a man with normal physique who ruled the cricket world in 30s and 40s. He went on to make Oz team became "THE INVINCIBLE"in his captaincy. Negative tactics like body-line were also devised against him but he overcame all though this. Not only in cricket, but also in all ball sports, he has been mathematically proved to be far ahead than the players like Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan  His batting average of 99.94 has become a famous figure in the sports world. His dismissal for a duck in the very last inning of his career is considered as the greatest sports shock of all time. He is greatest Australian of all times too.

  1. Sachin Tendulkar:

Sachin Tendulkar is doubtlessly the greatest cricketer of all time. He is the real mega-superstar of the game. Born in Mumbai, the largest city of India on April 24, 1973 ; the guy made his first class debut at the age of 15 with a hundred. He debuted in tests in December  1989 against Pakistan at an age of just 16. Since then this man has contributed as much in the Indian cricket that almost half of the credit of its success goes to the man itself. Sachin has achieved numerous achievements throughout his career  has created so many records that almost half the record-book is associated to him. As an sportsman, he is the most humble and gentle cricketer ever seen. His skills as a batsman are most close to perfect and many of the amazing shots have been invented by himself. He is the most popular cricketer of all time too. He takes the credit of bringing the stardom and popularity to this sport solely. He is the only Indian every person of India will like to get sacrificed over. He very recently announced the retirement from the limited over format. Its his true and holiest kind of dedication towards the cricket that he is still serving cricket. I personally feel proud in mentioning him as the greatest cricketer....

Top ten greatest cricketers:
(1) Sachin, (2) Sir Don Bradman, (3) Sir Sobers, (4) Sir Jack Hobbs, (5) Sir Viv Richards