Cricket has given us a lot of memories and heartbreaks. It has no boundaries, as there are times when we feel sad about other teams as well. Every cricket fan was sad when South Africa got eliminated in the 2015 World Cup and New Zealand lost the World Cup 2019 final. Many players have made a solid impact in this game. But more players need to be able to popularise and or revolutionize this game. So, here’s a list of the ten most influential cricketers of all time.
1. Viv Richards
Viv Richards will be remembered as one of the most fearless batters in cricket history. He was the first one who started batting without a helmet against furious bowlers like Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson. Viv Richards used to play in a different league. When other batsmen used to score runs at a strike rate of 60 or 70, he was the batsman who used to smash the bowlers at a strike of 90 in ODI. Undoubtedly, Viv Richards was ahead of his time and changed the style of batting for the next generations.
2. Kapil Dev
Kapil Dev was the first recognized fast bowler of India. In the 70s, there was a time when India did not have a single fast bowler in the team. Then, Kapil Dev came and changed the game. There is no doubt that he is one of the players who sparked the popularity of Cricket in India. Even Sachin Tendulkar also got inspired to play for India after the 1983 World Cup win. Kapil Dev is one of the rarest all-rounders who played more than 100 test matches.
3. Shane Warne
Shane Warne was one of the best bowlers in cricket history. He is the second bowler who took 1,000 wickets in international matches. Shane Warne was the one who used to bowl spin with the attitude of fast bowlers. Apart from his controversy, he gave many memorable moments to Cricket and even popularised this game. Shane Warne’s ball to Mike Gatting is termed as the ball of the century. Many spinners consider him their idol.
4. Jonty Rhodes
Jonty Rhodes is a former right-handed batsman from South Africa. He has played 245 ODI matches in which he scored 5,935 runs with an average of 35. Even though Jonty’s batting records are not mind-blowing, his biggest strength was his agile fielding, as he was the one who introduced the trend of excellent fielding in Cricket. The batters did not take runs when the ball was in Jonty’s hands. No one can forget the famous Inzmam’s runout in the 1992 World Cup. After him, every team started concentrating on their fielding.
5. Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar is one of the best batsmen and sportsmen that the World has ever seen, and no one can be like him. His longevity in this game is a benchmark, as most cricketers take retirement in the span of 16-17 of Cricket. Sachin played for 24 years. Apart from his outstanding performances, Sachin Tendulkar was the first batsman who started to play amazing cricketing shots like square cuts and straight drives. After him, many batsmen started playing drives and cut shots. Sachin has always been an idol for youngsters.
6. Sanath Jayasuriya
Sanath Jayasuriya will be remembered as one of the most destructive batsmen in the history of Cricket. He was the first one who changed ODI cricket by attacking the bowlers in powerplay overs. This attacking approach played a huge role for the Sri Lankan team, and it resulted in the 1996 World Cup win. After this, other opening batters also started to apply an attacking approach to the powerplay. There is no doubt that Jayasuriya changed the ODI cricket for every opening batter.
7. MS Dhoni
MS Dhoni is one of the most inspiring cricketers that this game has ever seen. He can remain cool in intense matches where everybody is feeling pressure, and most of the time, he makes the right decisions at the right time, which is one of the biggest weapons for him. During his captaincy days, Dhoni made many calculative and unbelievable decisions, like giving a decisive over to Ashwin in the 2013 Champions Trophy and his famous last-wicket runout against Bangladesh in the 2016 World Cup. There is no doubt that many captains and players have learned many important things from him.
8. Adam Gilchrist
Adam Gilchrist is one of the finest left-handed batsmen and wicket-keepers in Australia. In ODI cricket, he started to put pressure on the bowlers from the very 1st over. Adam Gilchrist had always been in the World Cup finals. In the 2003 finals, he scored a fiery half-century, which set the stage for upcoming batters, and in the 2007 finals, he scored a century. During his time, Australia was the strongest team as players like Gilchrist used to bat at No. 7 in test cricket. The way he used to play test cricket set the template for other aggressive batters to play test cricket.
9. AB de Villiers
There are very few players who have a strike rate of more than 100 in ODI cricket, and AB de Villers is one of them. He has almost no haters in the World, which is very rare for any sportsman. AB de Villiers is the one who invented the new dictionary of playing innovative shots like reverse sweep, scoop shot, etc. There is no doubt that he is the father of 360-degree batting. In modern-day Cricket, many batters play shots like switch hit and reverse lap, and they have admitted that they get inspired to play these shots from AB de Villers.
10. Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli is one of the best batsmen in the cricket history. Currently, he is the fittest in the World who introduced fitness in Cricket. After 2012, he changed his full habit of eating and training and followed a disciplined routine in his life. In today’s Cricket, fitness is an important element for any cricketer. Virat Kohli is the player who introduced new fitness standards in Cricket. Even foreign players struggle to match the standard of Virat Kohli’s fitness. Currently, the Indian Cricket team is one of the fittest teams in the World.
