Top 10 Cricketers of All Time

It might be a difficult task for a cricketer or a follower of the game to rank top cricketers of all time. The game was started way back in the eighteenth century that did grab some people to the ground. It was called the Gentlemen game that had only the rich audience to watch the match in the mid seventies of the eighteenth century. As the game progressed many countries started to play the game that made even the middle class and poor watch the match. England ruled the Cricket world from 1880’s to the mid 19^th century. Australia was the team who gave a tough fight to win against the strong English side. Now let us see some of the legends of the game who dedicated their life for the game:


Don Bradman:   

 

1.       He was born on August 27, 1908 at Cootamundra, New South Wales. It was a generation of Test match cricket and body line was in place. This man had different ideas to make his game big. He practiced his shorts and had dedication in the game. Don Bradman played his first test against the strong English team on 30^th November 1928. He scored 18 runs in the first innings and was out after scoring one run. After some test matches under his name he started to show his class and scored many double hundreds and triple hundred that helped the Australian team to win the test match against the English.  He destroyed some great bowling teams and scored many centuries that added to the record books. His technique to play the fast bounce ball was the hard work put in the batsman. He retired from cricket on August 18^th 1948 with an overall batting average of 99.94. He is still called as one of the greatest cricketer of all time.

Sir Garry Sobers: 

Garry Sobers was born on July 28, 1936 at Barbados. He made his debut against the England on 30^th Match 1954. This genius cricketer has played 93 test matches for the West Indies team with some big scores under his belt. The team started to win the matches against England who dominated the game in the 1960’s. His entry to the team made all the changed with other West Indies players became one of the test playing nations with England and Australia. He was one of the best All rounder who took some wickets and also runs for the team. Sobers was the first person to hit 6 six in an over in a test match. The other record in his name was for the highest individual score in test match by scoring 365 runs not out. Gary Sobers played only 1 One Day match in his 20 year carrier. He played his last test match against the same English team he debuted with. The last day of his test carrier was on 5^th April 1974. HE had a test average of 57.78. The legend has also taken 235 wickets of his 93 test matches.

Sir Viv Richards:   

The West Indian batsman was born on 7^th March 1952 at Antigua. He was good in both test and One day format. He was a nightmare for many international bowlers who could not stop him from big shorts. Sir Viv Richards made his debut against India at Bangalore on November 22, 1974. He had big fan following for his way of playing the game. The legendary batsman has played 121 test matches scoring 8540 at an average of 50.23. He has scored 24 centuries and 45 half centuries with 122 catches for his team. West Indies batsman made his One Day Debut on 7^th July 1975 against Sri Lanka. He did not get any chance to play in his debut match as the target was 87. 1979 World cup was won by West Indies due to a great performance by the right handed batsman. The West Indies team ruled the game that has five bowlers, five batsmen and a wicketkeeper. He was one of the reasons for the team to win some close matches. Richards played his 187^th and the last One Day against England on May 27, 1991.


Sir Ian Botham:   

 

1.       He was born on November 24, 1955 at Cheshire. He was nicknamed Beefy by his team mates due to his physics. Ian Botham was one of the best all rounder of his time and also was awarded best all rounder award many times. He made his One day debut against the West Indies team on August 26, 1976. The test debut was against the arch rival’s Australian team on July 28^th 1977.  He has played 102 test matches and scored 5200 with an average of 33.54 and has picked 383 wickets at a bowling average of 28.40. Botham has appeared in 116 One Day matches and scored 2113 run with an average of 23.21 and also have picked 145 wickets at an average of 28.54. He retired from test cricket on July 21, 1992 playing against Pakistan. Last One day international was played against the Pakistan team.

Imran Khan: 

The Pakistan all rounder was born on 25^th November 1952 at Lahore, Punjab. He is one of the greatest cricket players Pakistan has produced. It all changed for Pakistan when he was given the captaincy. He tried many changed in batting order that made life to many down order batsmen to take the opening spot. The legendary all rounder lead the low profiled World cup 92 team to win the cup. This was the decision of this great captain who influenced many players to come strong in the finals and win the match against England. Totally he has played 88 test matches for his team and scored 3807 runs with an average of 37.69 and One day batting average of 33.41. Imran Khan has picked 362 wickets in the 88 test matches he played and 182 One Day wickets from 175 games. He retired from test match on the 7^th of January 1992 and One Day match on March 25, 1992. 


Kapil Dev:   

 

1.       He was born on January 6, 1959 at Chandigarh. He is still named best all rounder and fast bowler of Indian cricket history. Kapil Dev made his debut against Pakistan at Faisalabad on 16^th October 1978. His performance with the ball helped him to game the opening bowlers spot for the team.  He also lead the 1983 World Cup with some good batting and bowling that helped India to reach the finals of the World Cup for the first time and beating the two times Champion team West Indies. He had taken 434 wickets from 131 tests he played and 253 One Day wickets of his 225 matches. He also had scored 5248 runs in tests and 3783 in One day matches that made him the best all rounder of Indian cricket. He has 8 test centuries and 57 fifties with 1 hundred and 14 fifties in one day matches. He retired from all forms of international cricket in the year 1994.

Steve Waugh: 

 

1.       Former Australian Captain was born on 2^nd June 1965 at New South Wales, Australia. He was one of the consistent performers for the country with many wins under his captaincy. The right hander made his test debut on the 26^th of December 1985 against the India team and One day debut against the New Zealand team on 9^th January 1986. He was the captain of Australia when the team won the 1999 World cup. He went to score 10927 runs from 168 test matches and 7569 One day runs from 325 matches he played. He was also among the wickets for the Australian team picking 92 wickets in test and 195 in One day matches. He played his last test match against India that started on the 2^nd January 2004 and One day on 3^rd February 2002 against South Africa.

Brain Lara: 

The left handed legend of cricket was born on 2^nd May, 1969 at Santa Cruz, West Indies. He was nicknamed Prince by his team mates for the style of game he played. He made his test debut on 6^th December 1990 against Pakistan and One day debut on 9^th November 1990 against the same team. He was one of the technically strong batsmen of his period by scoring around the wicket. He has scored 11953 runs from 131 test matches with the highest score of 400 runs is still the highest individual score in International test matches. Lara has scored 10405 runs out of his 299 one day matches he played for the West Indies team. The domestic arena also had some record for Lara as he scored 501 not out against a domestic team. He played his last test match against Pakistan on 27^th November 2006 and last appearance in One day was against England on 21^st April 2007. 

Muttiah Muralitharan:   

1.       The off spinner from Sri Lanka was born on 17^th April 1972 at Kandy, Ceylon. Making his debut against the Australian team on 28^th August 1992 has played some good cricket for a period of 18 to 19 years for the Lankans. He made his one day debut against India on 12^th August 1993. He with Shane Warne was the spin bowlers who took more wickets even in good fast bowling and flat batting pitches. The dusra was the finding of this man that gave the batsmen tough time to read it and losing the wicket. He has taken around 800 wickets still the world record for most wickets in test matches from his 133 test matches. In One day matches he has taken 534 wickets from 350 One day matches he played. Still he is playing for different county teams around the world and performing at his best. HE played his last test match against the Indian team on 18^th July 2010 and the last one day also against the same team on 2^nd April 2011.

       Sachin Tendulkar:

 

1.    The man who is called “God of Cricket” was born on 24^th April 1973 at Bombay, Maharashtra. He was also the Master Blaster, Little Master of the Indian team after the retirement of Sunil Gavaskar. He makes his test debut on 15^th November 1989 against Pakistan and One day debut against the same team on 18^th December 1989. He also loved to play tennis in his childhood and also went to play some charity matches. He has totally score 100 centuries in total adding both test and One day matches. 51 centuries from test and 49 from One day international. Sachin has scored 15921 runs from 200 test matches and 18426 runs from 463 one day matches. Don Bradman liked Sachin’s game and was added in the best Don Bradman XI. He has many records under his belt that is hard to be broken. The last One day match was on 18^th March 2012 against Pakistan and test exit against the West Indies on 14^th November 2013. He also played some T20 matches and also scored a century playing for Mumbai Indians in the IPL. The legend has played only one international T20 against South Africa on 1^st December 2006.