Let us look at some of the Greatest Players of the Game across generations and know a bit about them. The following Players are some of them who I feel have changed the people’s Outlook and approach towards this game. Let’s Get into the Elite list of players to have Played the game.
1.Sachin Tendulkar :
He is one of the most Iconic cricketer from India who is oftenly called as ‘God of cricket’ made his international debut in 1989 against Pakistan ,who had a fierce pace attack back then. Though he only made 15 runs before being bowled by Waqar Younis ,who also made debut from Pakistan. He immpressed the world by his technique and prowess of his batting and went on to play till 2013. Over his career span he made and broke many records to his name and emerged as a legendary cricketer. 7 years post his retirement he still holds records to his name and is one of the players who can be categorised into once in generation player.He holds the record for most ODI 100’s and career runs with a mammoth 34,357 runs and doesn’t seem to be broken by now. I could go on elaborating on the records but let’s comeback to other cricketers who feature in the list.
2.Sunil Gavaskar:
He is another great who counter-attacked the most vicious Windies bowling attack of the 1970’s and 80‘s. west indies bowling was considered the most lethal in the history of cricket and Gavaskar was one of those few players who regularly dominated their bowling with an Average of 65.45 in his days of playing. He was also the world-record holder with most number of career runs and 34 test centuries which remained as a record for 2 decades until Sachin broke the record in 2005. He also set record of being the first to get 10,000 runs in test cricket. He has many more records to his name which will be shared sooner with the visitors.He was definitely regarded as the best and is a deserving legend to be in the elite list of Greatest of all time(GOAT).
3. Don Bradman:
The Australian icon and the best batsmen the game has ever witnessed was in none other than Don Bradman himself. He played for 20 years from 1928-1948 in which he played 52 tests and scored 6,996 runs at an average of 99.94 ,which is still a world record and doesn’t seem to be broken even in near future. World war 2 affected his career when he was at his peak which doesn’t show on his stats at all. He made his debut against England in 1928 and scored 110 and played his Last game versus the same team before being dismissed on a duck and falling short of the batting average of 100 by English off-spinner Eric Hollis. He is also a world record holder with most number of Double centuries with a count of 12 to his name and was one of the first batsmen to score triple centuries twice.
4. Garfield Sobers:
He is a legendary cricketer who played for the west Indies between 1954-1973. He made his debut vs England in 1954 and had a pretty good start to his career. He was the first to hit 6 sixes in an over which is a rare achievement of his career. He started his career as a bowler who could bowl left-arm medium,left-arm fast,spin but was promoted up the order in 1958 vs Pakistan in which he went on to score his maiden hundred. Later he also held the record for highest individual score (365) versus Pakistan until it was broken 36 years later by Brian Lara in 1994. He also went on to score 8,032 runs and 235 wickets with an average of 57.8 and 34.4 respectively. He is regarded as one of the finest all-rounders to have played. He played his Last game against England in 1954.
5. Clive lloyd:
He was one of the most destructive batsmen in the history of cricket,who made his debut in 1966 vs India and Captained west Indies from 1974 to 1985. He is regarded as the Most successful captains of all time. He lead west Indies to 2 successive world cup triumph in 1975 and 1979 and finished as runner-up in 1983. He was always a explosive player and scored a 102 off 88 which is his only hundred in a world cup by him. He has scored over 7000+ runs in tests and 1,997 runs in ODI’S. He played his Last test against Australia and last ODI against Pakistan.
6. Kapil dev:
Another legend from India who is regarded as the greatest All-rounder and Captain to have played the Game. He made his debut in 1978 vs Pakistan and Captained India in the 1983 world cup triumph. He retired in 1994 with many records to his name,one such record was highest number of test wickets which was later broken by Courtney walsh in 2000 and was India’s highest wicket-taker in both major Formats. He stil holds a unique record of not bowling a single no-ball in his entire career,which I believe he is the only bowler in history to do so. He also has a unique feat to his name for scoring 5,000+ and 400+ wickets in his test career which makes him a legendary all-rounder the game has ever witnessed. He was named by wisden as ‘Indian Cricketer of the century’ in 2002.
7. M.S Dhoni:
There is definitely no need to elaborate on this stalwart of the Indian Cricket Team who made his debut for India in 2004 against Bangladesh. MS Dhoni is regarded as one of the best ‘Cricketing brains’ and one of the most successful captains of the game we will ever see. He is the only Captain to have won all 3 ICC trophies under his captaincy. He is the only wicket-keeper batsmen with 10,000 runs in ODI’s and held the record for quickest batsmen to reach no.1 position in ODI ranking in just 42 innings. He also led India to their 2nd world Cup triumph in 2011 after a 28 year long wait , again we could go on describing his achievements and service to Indian cricket.
8. Brian Lara:
The west Indian great is one of the greatest batsmen of all time who made his debut for west indies vs Pakistan in 1990. He is known for the historic knock in Antigua test match against England in which he set the world record for highest individual score of 400 not out in 2004. He also set a record for most runs in an owner in test cricket by scoring 28 runs of Robin Peterson from South africa. He also holds the record for a first – class cricket by scoring 501 for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994 which is the only quintuple hundred in first class history. His records still stand as they were even after 20 years. He played his Last international game in 2007 vs England in a 50 over game.
9. Jacques Kallis:
A great cricketer of All time from South Africa who made his debut vs England in 1995 in tests and ODI debut in 1996. As of 2020 he is the only player to score 10000+ runs in both test and ODI and take 250+ wickets in the major Formats of the game. He scored 11,579 runs in ODI and 13,289 runs in tests,averaged over 55 in tests in 2007. He holds the record for 2nd most test centuries in the history of cricket only behind Sachin who has 51-100’s to his name. He was the ICC ‘ player of the year’ in 2005 and wisden ‘cricketer of the year’ in 2013. He also made his T20 debut in 2005 and played last in 2012. He retired from all formats of the game in 2014.
10. Muttiah Muralitharan:
Muralitharan is one of the most successful bowlers ever who made his international debut in 1992 vs Australia in tests. He holds the record for most wickets in both tests and ODI. He held the no.1 spot for test bowlers for a record period for 1,711 days over 214 tests. He overtook Shane Warne in 2007 to become the highest wicket-taker in international cricket ever with over 1000 dismissals. He retired from test matches in 2010 with a overall tally of 800 wickets and became the only srilankan bowler to be inducted in ICC hall of fame. He had overtaken wasim Akram in 2005 after dismissing Gautam Gambhir to take his tally to 502 wickets in ODI, he finished with a total of 535 ODI wickets. His total tally of wickets in both the major Formats of the game were 1,334 altogether. He played his Last international game against India in the World Cup final in 2011.