Cricket has been played for more than a century now and many greats have graced the cricketing field to give us memorable moments we remember and cherish. With the Evolution of cricket from the long format of test cricket to the shortest form of T20, players had to reinvent themselves to meet the growing and changing demands of the sport.

While it is unfair to pick only some cricketing greats from cricket history who has impacted the sport, the team at supersports360 have gone ahead and based on their research listed the top 10 cricketers of all time.

Criteria for selection:  Players were shortlisted according to the following criteria

• Impact the player left on the sport
• Contribution on field and the achievements

Presented By: Raghunath Nair

Date: 12/06/2023

Introduction

List of Cricket legends is not based on ranking and the players have been listed randomly Players have played in different eras and it would be unfair to compare a player from the 60s to current players. Also we have considered a maximum of 2-3 players from a test playing nation.

Sir Donald Bradman

Arguably considered the greatest batsman the sport has ever seen , Sir Donald Bradman also known “ The Don” had an envious batting average of 99.94 in 52 Test match . He was a run machine and amazed 6, 996 runs . He was considered the first celebrity of Australia.

To curb his  prolific run making ability, the infamous Body Line tactics was used by England such was the desperation created into the opponent’s mind. He captained the Australian team which was called “The Invincibles” being unbeaten in first class cricket from 1937-1948

Other records of the Don Include

• Batting average of 99.94 in Test cricket
• Most double centuries in Test cricket
• Don Bradman is the fastest to reach 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000 & 6000 run milestone in Test cricket.

Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all-time highest run-scorer in both ODI and Test cricket with more than 18,000 runs and 15,000 runs, respectively. Sachin has scored 100 international hundreds in his illustrious career.

He also has the dubious record of the batsman having dismissed the most number of times while in the nineties (27)

Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for receiving the most man-of-the-match awards in international cricket.

In 2014, Tendulkar became the first sportsperson in India to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honor.

ODI Records

• Most Runs in ODI – 18426
• First person to score a double century in One Day Internationals.
• Highest number of centuries (49). Highest number of fifties (96).
• Sachin Tendulkar has played the most one dayers (463 ODIs).

Test Records

• Highest Number of Centuries (51)
• Most runs in Test (15921)
• He has scored centuries against all Test-playing nations
• Sachin Tendulkar also holds the record for the most number of 150+ scores in Test cricket. (20)
• Youngest Indian to have scored a Test hundred.
• Only Player to have played 200 Test matches.

He still is a role model for millions of young cricketers who try to emulate his passion and dedication towards the game

Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev was the greatest fast-bowling allrounder India produced in their cricket history.

He was voted India’s Cricketer of the Century during 2002. He led India to lift the 1983 World Cup.  He held the record for highest Test wickets from Richard Hadlee till others broke the record.

Kapil Dev is the only cricketer to hold the record of scoring 4000 runs and taking 400 wickets as an allrounder

Kapil Dev is also the only player to hold the rare record of never being run out in his entire Test career (184 innings)

Viv Richards

Viv Richards was born in Antiga and played for the West Indies national team. In his international playing career, he played 121 Test matches scoring 8,540 runs and 187 ODIs scoring 6,721 runs.

As part of the team, he played a crucial role in West Indies winning the World cup in both 1975 and 1979.

He also successfully captained the team between 1984 and 1991 and has the distinction of being the only West Indian captain who never lost a test series.

A destructive batsman, he destroyed the opposition’s bowling attack completely and played fearlessly without a helmet throughout his career.

Sir Vivian Richards from the West Indies was a fearless and flamboyant batsman who redefined the art of aggressive batting

He was a key player for the West Indies team of the 1970s and 1980s, winning multiple Test series and World Cups.

Viv Richards is considered one of the greatest batsmen of all time

Brian Lara

Brian Lara, the Lefthanded from Trinidad was considered the most stylish batsman of his time with elegance and grace personified. He solely carried the burden of the west Indies batting during the 90s and early 2000s. Brian Lara currently holds the highest test individual score of 400*. He broke the world record for highest Test runs twice (375 and 400*) in his career and proved to the world his appetite for big runs.

Brian Lara held multiple batting records, and contributed in any match winning innings making him one of the legends of the modern game.

Gary Sobers

Garfield Sobers was a genuine allrounder and truly a legend in the modern cricket era. He could bowl bat and field. He could have been selected in the team merely as a batsman or a bowler. As a bowler, Gary Sobers could bowl quick spells as an opening bowler and then turn to bowling left-arm orthodox and wrist spin. His exceptional Test batting average do not tell us the aggressive batting style he adopted

His feats include the first occasion when a batsman hit 6 consecutive sixes in a Malcolm Nash over. He was knighted for his services to cricket in 1975.

Kumar Sangakara

Not many put Kumar Sangakara in the legend list. Kumar Sangakara flew under the radar during his 15 year career but impacted cricket for the Srilankan team the way any of the other modern greats did for their respective nations.

He was a prolific run scorer in both forms of the game. Against South Africa, He scored 287 in the company of Mahela Jayawardhene  to have a partnership of 624 , currently still the highest first class record.

Part of the modern generation of wicket keeper-batsmen, Sangakkara exceled in both the department

He is one of the few who holds record of crossing 10,000-plus runs in both Tests and ODIs.

Kumar Sangakarra played a pivotal role in giving direction to Sri Lankan cricket.

He became the joint-fastest to scale 10,000 Test runs alongside Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara. Kumar Sangakara Second only to Sir Don Bradman in the list of double centuries.

Sangakkara scored 11 double centuries, second only to the great Don Bradman.  Sangakkara also is the third highest run-scorer in ODIs.

Jacques Kallis

Jacques Kallis is one of the most underrated cricketer of the modern times. He is the greatest allrounder south Africa has produced and he will be part of any all-time world 11 team. He is the only cricketer to have scored 10,000 runs and taken over 250 wickets in both ODI and Test. He also has taken 131 ODI catches and 200 catches in his career. His Test career record ended with an impressive 13,289 runs and 292 wickets

Kallis has won most number of Man of the Match awards in Test, 23.

Jacques Kallis is the first bowler to take a five-wicket haul in the ICC Champions Trophy history. Kallis has amassed the most international runs for South Africa across all formats, 25534 runs in 519 games.

Along with Sir Donald Bradman, Mohammad Yousuf, and Gautam Gambhir, Kallis made a century of five consecutive Test matches.

Shane Warne

Shane Warne was arguably amongst the greatest bowlers ever to play the game.

Shane Warne with his walk up to the crease as a delivery stride was an unconventional bowling style but he was one of the most accurate bowlers. He was also a useful lower order batsman. Shane Warne was the second most popular cricketer  and a legend in Australian history after Don Bradman.

Though he was on the heavier side, Shane Warne was considered one of the best slip fielders of his time.

Shane Warne produced the ‘ball of the century’ to Mike Gatting in the Ashes series. A cracking leg break that spun from well outside leg to clip the off bail even as the batsman offered no stroke.

During Shane Warne’s career, team Australia became a potent cricketing nation and won worldcups for fun .

Warne holds the record for the most Test runs without a century

Always termed as the best captain Australia never had, Shane Warne was a master tactician and his leadership qualities was seen by all in the inaugural IPL year when he led the Rajasthan Royals to the cup.

Like Ritchie Benaud, Shane Warne made a name in cricket commentary with his astute read of the game which made great television viewing. World cricket will miss the Australian legend who passed away in 2022.

Muttiah Muralidharan

Muttiah Muralidharan will go down in the history books as one of the players who had the most contradictory opinions amongst cricketers and fans. Some considered him the greatest ever and some considered him a bowler who slipped through the eyes of ICC for a questionable bowling action.

While his supporters celebrate his feat as the highest wicket taker in Test history, his doubters believe that his records were undeserving.

Muralidharan had the ability to turn the ball on any surface and could bowl long spells. He mastered the art of doosra (the one that went the other way) along with his orthodox off spin and foxed most batsmen in the world.

Muralidharan had a questionable elbow which allowed him to have a distinct advantage from others to get a unique bowling trajectory which some felt was an illegal action

Darrell Hair called him for throwing on Boxing Day in 1995, and Ross Emerson three years later which seemed in a well-planned orchestrated manner. Murali was asked to refrain from bowling his doosra, after it was found to exceed the 15-degree tolerance limit

Laws were changed to legitimise the action as Murali had reasonable test cricket played under his belt by then.

He was Shane Warne’s rival in the wicket-taking and greatness stakes.

He averaged less than 30 with the ball in every country except India and Australia, and he finished a remarkable Test career with more than 100 wickets against India, England and South Africa.

Muralitharan was a giant performer and holds record for the most wickets in One Day Internationals (534) as well as Test matches (800)

Jack Hobbs

Jack Hobbs is considered to be one of the greatest opening batsmen of all time. He played for England between 1908 and 1930 and finished his career with an impressive batting average of 56.94. Hobbs scored 61,237 runs in first-class cricket, including 199 centuries, which makes him one of the most prolific run-scorers in the history of the sport.

Jack Hobbs was cricket’s most prolific batsman. He finished with 61,237 first-class runs and 197 centuries.

Hobbs was known as “The Master”, and scored consistently throughout a long career that didn’t end till he was past 50. Half his hundreds came when he was over 40, and he remains, at 46 in 1928-29, the oldest man to score a Test century.

first-class cricket career spanned 30 years

Hobbs was self-taught and never coached

Conclusion

The legends handpicked by our team not only created a lasting impression on the sport of cricket but also inspired others to take the game forward. While there are many greats who did not make the list, their contribution to the game of cricket cannot be considered less important.

Some of the players not in the list but need our thumbs up  as legends of the game are

• Sunil Gavaskar
• Imran Khan
• Curtly Ambrose
• Sir Ian Botham
• Ricky Ponting
• Adam Gilchrist
• Glenn McGrath