Like any sport, cricket is not static. While quite a traditional game, the more games that are played, the more trends that form that people catch onto to suggest a new twist for better ratings or adjustment to do away with things like injury. The IPL is a great example of that, arising only in 2007, adding a new flavor as an answer to the more quick-finishing, easy-to-follow MLB for the East, as these games only lasted a few hours. That new format changed cricket, as it brought forward a brand new format for not only people to watch in a whole afternoon, but also a new betting system that gave people more instant gratification.

Gambling has gotten a whole lot richer in general with live betting allowing for not only games to be bet on, but also the results of a quarter, and in micro-betting, bets are even made on whether the next bowl with entail a ball, run, wicket, or a ball hit in the air beyond the boundary line. There are particular unique players in cricket history who shook the game to a degree that they caught all the gamblers’ eyes. A lot of their bets were placed on the status of these players specifically.

Without further ado, let’s marvel at the cricketers who changed betting forever.

Sachin Tendulkar

The “Little Master” caused bookmakers to have to tinker with the odds based on his performance and signs of his being locked in more than anyone in the 2000s. When he was in the crease, everybody knew that at least Sachin would get his. After all, he was the first man to score a double century in ODIs, against South Africa in the year 2010. He also is the all-time leader in international runs with an insane 34,357 runs.

Most people who liked to bet on who’d score the most would go with this guy. Even when India stunk and people thought they were down and out, they’d still go all-in on him. It was like an insurance polcy for them. If Tendulkar was in the crease, India’s odds would shorten. The type of confidence that he contributed led to the advent of whole new bets like “runs in the next 10 overs” and “milestone markets”. No matter how intense the pressure, he showed up. He did so without tooting his horn.

“I just want to play cricket and be remembered as a good cricketer, nothing more.” – Sachin Tendulkar

Brian Lara

One of the things bettors are most fond of in sports is volatility, since that’s where the greatest opportunity lies.This man was quite different from Sachin the anchor. Lara was a wrench in everybody’s odds. The Prince of Trinidad as he was known in the 90s and 2000s was white-hot when he was on and stunk when he was bad. He was a total legend during test matches putting up 375 runs and 400 not out before.

With those types of records, once Lara went over 100, bettors thought to shoot for the stars, taking online cricket betting to astronomical totals. The markets had to scramble to reset.

Gamblers who metaphorically swung for nothing less than the boundary line saw perfectly eye-to-eye with him. Whoever could stomach his enduring slumps at any time had a huge jackpot to thank them with if they stuck by his side.

Shane Warne

Much like the previous entry on our list, the King of Spin bowled surprises. It was just like a bowl you never knew which way it was going to spin. A team that looked sure to be about to hit 250 ran into a brick wall with Warne, who brought onslaughts to a screeching halt. His game against England in 1993 introduced a whole new inertia for balls to spin, and bookies right away changed how they priced matches. Because you never knew what this guy was serving.

The man was a paradox. On the one hand, you felt like you could count on him when times mattered most. Yet, the man had a lot of flair and ushered in quite a lot of drama, so you could never be totally sure what was going down with this guy most of the time, making him yet another godsend for those who said to hell with taking small wins. Warne himself was an all or nothing kind of guy, as a gambler himself, which is well-documented.

MS Dhoni

If you considered Warne as the man who always went balls to the walls, living for today and not tomorrow, Dhoni was the rational, calm friend you’d call up when you were about to make a bad decision. Nothing shook the man off base. The man was the only captan to win all three ICC white-ball trophies. He was the ultimate performer under pressure. He was notorious for leaving run chases late, which drove gamblers mad. Odds wold swing up and down, and then with two overs left to go, he’d dig in and start nailing them.

"Till the last moment, we don’t give up." – MS Dhoni

Dhoni never let anybody forget “never bet against him in a chase”. He had people baffled as to where the line was between logic and faith. Punters began factoring in not just scorelines, but had to specially reset them due to Dhoni’s presence. They always kept the odds tighter when he was still batting, because of how many times he made the odds look stupid.

Ricky Ponting

This Australia captain was a lot kinder to people’s nerves, and was one of the reasons cricket was most beloved in the 2000s. He not only knocked in a ton of runs but he was also incredibly consistent, almost never having a bad game. Needless to say, he was one of gamblers’ favorites. They were rooting for him. Whether or not Australia was favored was all too often simply a matter of “Can Ponting play?”

Ricky won two World Cups in a row with Australia, along with multiple Ashes. He routinely took over games. Oddsmakers’ job is to give both sides to a bet equal odds, but he would make it so that those who bet against him felt screwed by the bookie.

“In my mind, the contest is always against myself—to push my limits.”

Jacques Kallis

If you wanted to place more of your bets, this guy could satisfy your every whim. He’d deliver with both runs and wickets, the ultimate all-rounder. He could break crucial partnerships with the ball on top of killing it in batting. He could fail at one too and take over the game with the other. He scored a whopping 13,289 runs in tests and racked up 292 wickets total.

But here’s what he had to say: “People talk about my records, but I’ve always played to win games for South Africa.”