Cricket is among the fastest growing sports in the world.
Originated in England and having been popular in Asia, now its feat is
in Europe too. Cricket is billion dollar industry due to its ever
growing popularity in different countries. I selected some of the most influential cricketers
of present age who are presenting the art of cricket to the world.
Please give your opinion in the comment section if you think something
regarding this article.
Sachin Tendulker
Sachin
is one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He holds many
records in both test cricket and one-day cricket. He is the highest
run-scorer in one-day cricket and not so far away form being the highest
run scorer in test cricket too. Sachin is the highest centurion in both Test and One-day cricket. It is surprising that Tendulker’s first cone-day international century at the 79th
match. This talented player is compared with the all time greatest
Batsman Sir Don Bradman who himself praised him and could remembered his
own batting watching Sachin. He is the first cricketer to cross 10000
runs in one day cricket. He is also thehighest run scorer in the world cup history. Once he was the captain of Indian cricket team.
Sachin
is the father of two children Sara and Arjun. His wife Anjali Mehta is
the daughter of Anand Mehta, an industrialist of Gujrat. Sachin is also
involved some social activities. For example, 200 children are getting
help which is sponsored by Sachin.
Ricky Ponting
This talented Australian batsman and present captain of Australia cricket team was born in Tasmania on 19 December, 1974. Ponting
is one of the successful batsmen in the cricket history. After his
first appearance in 1995 against Sri Lanka he did not have to look
behind. With the time being, he has been the most reliable batsman in
the team. He is also very successful in his one-day career. In 2001-02
he was given the captaincy of Australian team which was followed by the
test captaincy in 2004. He played three world cups and became the
youngest centurion in the world cup history in 1996 world cup. He won
two world cups with Australia and in the later one he was the captain of
the Australia team in 2003. He has over 8000 test runs and over 9000
one-day runs.
Brian Lara
Lara
is considered as one of the best batsmen to many cricket analysts. This
West Indian is the first and only player who scored 400 in an innings
of a test match. He has also the highest score in the first class
cricket (501 runs not out in 1994) in an innings. He is the second
batsmen in the cricket history who scored triple century for twice after
the cricket legend Sir Don Bradman. He made his 400 not out innings against England in 2004. He is the present captain of West Indies for his second time in captaincy. His test debut was against Pakistan in 1990.
Stephen Fleming
To many cricket intellectuals, Stephen Fleming, captain of the New Zealand cricket team, is the best captain in the world at present. His thought and talent regarding cricket make him world’s one of the famous cricketers. He made New Zealand cricket team
one of the strongest teams with his genius. He played his first test
match against India in 1994. He is the most successful captain for his
country and the second best captaincy performance in the world. New
Zealand won 27 tests under his captaincy. He led his team for 76 tests.
This left handed batsman has some problem in making his half centuries
to the centuries. He has over 6000 tests and over 7000 one-runs in his
career. His career best test innings is 274 against Sri Lanka in2003.
Muttiah Muralitharan
Muralitharan
is the greatest off spinner in the cricket history who is the second
leading test wicket taker in test cricket. Despite his controversy with
his unorthodox bowling action, he could be able to prove his correctness
and continue taking wicket all over the world. He has highest
international wickets combining both ODI and test cricket which is more
than 1000 wickets.
He is the highest number of 5 and 10 wicket taker in an innings in test
cricket. He is the only player who took 10 wickets in an innings for
the consecutive four test matches. He is the only player who got 50
wickets against every test playing nations.This greatest bowler was born
in 17 April, 1972 at Kandy in Sri Lanka.
Shaun Pollock
Shaun Pollock is one of the great fast medium bowlers in the world
cricket. He is the highest wicket taker in both ODI and Test cricket
for his country. He is now on the verge of being the tenth cricketer in the world to take 400 wickets in the test cricket. He also has over 300 wickets in the ODI cricket. Pollock also led South Africa in the world cup 2003 in his country. However, he was replaced by Graeme Smith after the poor performance of South Africa in the world
cup as they had been thought as the favorite beforehand as the hosted
nation. It is also true that as a captain he was successful. He is also a
very useful batsman for his team has two centuries in test cricket and
in ODI ctrcket he is known as a pinch hitter especially in the slog
overs. He has over 3000 runs in test and over 2000 runs in ODI cricket.
He has given the South Afrira Player’s Player award and the South Africa ODI Player of the Year award. His greatest achievement is to have been the 12th
best bowler in the list of all time best bowlers by the LG ICC ratings.
Shaun Pollock is the nephew of famous South African cricket Graeme
Pollock and his father Peter Pollock was also the former South African
fast bowler.
Andrew Flintoff
This English all-rounder is considered as one of the best all-rounders of present age. From the very early of his career Flintoff
was compared with another legend all-rounder of England Ian Botham.
However, after his debut match against South Africa in 1998 he had to
face many controversies due to his poor and irregular performance in the
international cricket and his overweight as well as unfitness. From
2003, he started proving his real talent in the international level. He
continued his performance in the Ashes Series in 2005 and he had a significant role to regain the Ashes trophy form Australia. For his tremendous performance in the Ashes series,
he was awarded Compton-Miller Medal and the prestigious Freedom of City
award of Preston. He is the highest six heater in test cricket for his
country. He became the WIsden Cricketer of the Year in 2004. He was also
given the Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for the ICC Player of the year
trophy sharing with South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis. Another
award BBC Sports Personality of the year for 2005 was also honored to
him. Flintoff became the captain of England due to the injury of Michael
Vaughn. He also became the Wisden Leading Cricketer of the world in
2006.
Jacques Kallis
Kallis is considered as one of the greatest all-rounders of the world cricket. He is still in the 1st
position in the test all-rounders’ list of ICC rankings. He has over
8000 test runs and he is now just a bit behind form his 8000 ODI runs.
He has 24 test and 13 ODI centuries which prove his greatness.
Kallis has also taken over 200 wickets in both Test and ODI cricket.
His test cricket and ODI average is 55.78 and 43.92 respectively. Kallis
has been the only second cricket in the test cricket after Sir Don
Bradman to have made centuries in five consecutive test matches. He got
the Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for the ICC Player of the Year in 2005
sharing with Flintoff.
Shane Warne
Shane Warne,
the Australian legendry leg spinner, is though to be one of the best
legs spinners in the history of cricket. He is the leading wicket takers
in the test cricket. He first took 650 wickets
in test cricket. His flipper and accurate line and length make his
bowls difficult to the batsmen. He is also I the verge of his 700 test
and 300 ODI wickets. He holds the world record
for taking highest 976 wickets in a calendar year. He is just a few
runs behind from his 3000 test runs and he sis the highest test run
corers without making any century. His test career started against India
in 1991 but his debut match was and series was a nightmare for him. His
famous wicket known as ‘Ball of the Century’ against Mike Gatting in the Ashes series
in 1993 is considered as his best delivary where the ball pitching
outside of the leg stamp and bouncing a bit made Gatting played on. He
is involved in many controversies including his being positive in drug
test during the 2003 world cup which resulted his 1 year ban form
international cricket, controversy involving women and bookmakers. In
spite of theses incidents he is still creating fear to the opponent
batsmen and there is no doubt about his greatness.
Shoaib Akhtar
This
Pakistani Speed Star, known as Rawalpindi express, was born in
Rawalpindi, Pakistan on 13 August, 1975. He is thought to be the first
bowler in the history to exceed the 100 miles. Shoaib Akhtar
could bowl in both ODI and Test cricket over 100 miles/hour (160 kmh).
He has the ability to turn the match any stage which made him an
influential bowler of Pakistan. He is skilled in swing both side and
also in reverseswing. Swing is the movement of the ball after pitching
with the help of wind. His test bowling average is 25.69 whereas his ODI
average is 23.54. He can not be regular in the field because of his
injury from the earli8er of his career.
Adam Gilchrist
Adam Gilchrist
is considers as the best wicketkeeper-batsman of this time. After Ian
Hilly, he has been the first choice of the wicket keeping position in
the Australia team. He is a hard hitter in his batting and he holds the
record of scoring highest number of sixes in one’s test career with 93
sixes. He has over 5000 runs in test cricket and over 8000 runs in ODI
cricket. He won world cup for twice with Australia where he had a
significant contribution. His test strike rate is 81.59 in test cricket
96.76 and in ODI. He has over 350 dismissals in test cricket and a few
left to get his 400 ODI dismissals. He has been one of the five
cricketers awarded for Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 2002. H has got
the recognition as ‘World’s Scariest Batsman’ by a pool of
international bowler.
Thank you very much for your comments