Greatest Cricketers of India

We don’t need to say how massively popular Cricket is in India. Every Indian from kids to the elderly is well aware of the fact. We also don’t need to go into the reasons behind this mind-blowing craze- they are all but obvious.

As obvious as the fact that India has given the world of Cricket some of its greatest players. Indian Cricketers have constantly been in the top tier when it comes to world rankings of the sport.
So here we are- with a list of the players who literally changed the game! The greatest Cricketers of India –

SACHIN TENDULKAR

Who would be the first name on such a list if not this one? One of the greatest Cricketers not just in India but the entire history of the sport- Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is truly a legend. Debuting on the international stage at the tender age of 16, Tendulkar went on to break old records and create a number of new ones for the next 24 years before he retired in 2013 at the age of 40.

Some of his hundreds of achievements include –

• The only player to have scored 100 international centuries
• First batsman to score a double century in ODI
• More than 30,000 runs in international cricket (15,921 in Tests and 18,426 in ODIs)
• Recipient of not only Arjuna Award, Padma Shree, Padma Vibhushan and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna but also the youngest recipient of the Bharat Ratna.

KAPIL DEV

The man who led India to its first World Cup Victory in 1983, Kapil Dev is a name known by every Indian. The ‘Haryana Hurricane’ is one of the greatest all-rounders- the only player to have taken over 400 wickets in Test Cricket with over 5000 runs. He also took 253 wickets and scored 3700+ runs in 225 ODIs in his career spanning from 1978 to 1994. He was included in the ICC Hall of Fame in 2010.

MAHENDRA SINGH DHONI

Though currently inactive in the international cricket scene, no one can deny that MS Dhoni is indeed one of the greatest cricketers in India. Who can forget the iconic 2011 World Cup or the 2007 T20 World Cup? After debuting internationally in 2004 and becoming the captain in 2007, MS Dhoni has led Indian Cricket Team to numerous victories. It was under his leadership that India claimed the number one position in ICC Test rankings for the first time in 2009.

VIRAT KOHLI

The current Indian captain and what a marvelous leader he is! Leading India to one victory after another in the present international stage- Kohli is set to be one of the greatest Indian cricket captain in the near future. He has broken a number of records since his under 19 cricket days and has thousands of runs under his name in all three formats of cricket. Thousands and still counting…

Apart from these four we have ‘The Wall’ Rahul Dravid, ‘Prince of Calcutta’ Sourav Ganguly and ‘Jumbo’ Anil Kumble. Also VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Sunil Gavaskar and Mohammed Azharuddin- all these are the greatest cricketers of India, their achievements too numerous to be all written here.