Top 10 All Time Greatest Cricket Players | Best Cricketers of All Time
82Cricket's first tour took place way back in 1877 between England and Australia, which Australia won by 45 runs. Since then, cricket has produced many excellent players that are still inspiration for many players. The techniques used by players like Donald Bradman, Vivian Richards are advised even now.
International Cricket Council also brought a list of greatest cricketers of all time which suddenly was a point of debate all over the world. The list placed Sachin Tendulkar at the 28th position. Great players like Brian Lara, Steve Waugh, and Allan Border didn't even got a place in the top 20.
The list below has a fair representation of players from all the countries in which cricket is a popular sport. West Indies ruled the early days of international cricket, the list below has three West Indies players. England and Australia is represented by two players each. Whereas India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan is represented by Sachin Tendulkar, Muthiah Muralitharan, and Imran Khan respectively.
10) Sir Garfield Sobers (West Indies)
A career spanning of twenty years which is decorated by more than 8000 runs in which he made 26 centuries and 30 half centuries. Gary Sobers as he is lovingly called was an excellent all-round player.
The left-handed batsman will always be remembered for his extra-ordinary record of hitting six sixes in an over in a first-class cricket match. He was the first player to make this happen.
9) Dr. William Gilbert Grace (England)
The opening right-handed batsman is considered as the most influential cricketer of the 19th century. Grace nicknamed as WG, The Doctor, The old man, The champion in various stages of his career as a cricketer. The doctor nickname because he was a medical practitioner apart from being a great cricketer.
8) Adam Gilchrist (Australia)
Adam Craig Gilchrist known for his gentleman's approach in cricket. A player known for his ability to crush his opponent by the wide variety of shots that he possessed.
Cricket world cup 2007 was the last world cup that he played. He was struggling to get good scores through out the tournament until he blasted and made a match winning century in the finals against Sri Lanka.
7) Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)
Muthiah Muralitharan the highest wicket taker in test cricket and one day internationals. I wonder that any one will break his record of 800 test wickets in test matches.
6) Brian Lara (West Indies)
The greatest test batsman, Brian Charles Lara, holds the record for highest individual run getter in test cricket. Four hundred not out against England in 2004 will certainly not be broken any time soon.
5) Sir Ian Botham (England)
A genuine all round player who debut for England in 1977 and made many records until he retired himself from international cricket in 1992.
One incident that comes to my mind about him is where a match was taking place between India and England in 2007, a TV reporter of a news channel was interviewing an old lady near the ground where the match was scheduled. The reporter asked the lady about 'Who is your favorite player to look out for in today's match'. The lady firmly replied Ian Botham. This confused the reporter, but it reiterates the popularity of Ian Botham even 15 years after his retirement.
4) Vivian Richards (West Indies)
Excellent player of fast bowling, though he played his entire career without a helmet. Made 8540 runs in which 24 were centuries and 45 were half centuries in test matches. Another 6721 runs in one day international career marks his versatality in both forms of the game.
3) Imran Khan (Pakistan)
He was retired after the 1987 cricket world cup, but was called back in 1988, which eventually led Pakistan winning the next world cup in 1992. He single handedly picked his entire team for the tournament. Players like Wasim Akram, Inzaman ul-haq were the findings of Imran Khan who went to further shine the Pakistani cricket team for many more years.
2) Sachin Tendulkar (India)
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Sachin's name is all over the record books of cricket. But what are the most unbreakable and untouchable records of Sachin Tendulkar. Find it here
More number of people follow Sachin Tendulkar than the famous football player or for that matter any other sports icon.
Each and every record book in cricket will certainly have a mention of Sachin Tendulkar. Highest individual score of 200 in one day international. Recently also completed 100 centuries of his international cricket career.
1) Donald Bradman (Australia)
Sir Donald Bradman's position of greatest of all time cricketers cannot be argued at all. The legacy of Don will continue to amaze and inspire budding cricketers from around the world for many centuries to come.
Do you agree or disagree with the list. Share your views in the comment section.
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Gilchrist should be out of the list and it should include kapildev. And gavaskar shane warne and border
sachin should be one.......
takin d time factor and advanced game play conditions
@Naren Thanks for chiming in. Totally agree with your opinion. But they are definitely in my top 20.
the list is not possible without some great players like SUNIL GAVASKAR,SHANE WARNE,GLENN MCGRATH who had a phenomenon record in international cricket
without shane warne there is no best team with spinner.records are not important,eventually shane warne is better than muthaiah muralitharan in spinning the ball.so keep warne in all time great cricketer.
@champ come on think about it first before posting. How did prepare for an overseas tour when he was on a ship for 10 weeks to get there ? He played on uncovered pitches. Just think about that....India could not play on the hard n bouncy pitches of this Aussie tour and those pitches would have been the best batting pitches Bradman ever batted on. He also had to deal with WWII, which in all probability robbed him of his best years. Bradman is twice as good as the 2nd best !! Who is the 2nd best is open for discussion. By the way you forgot to mention India as a team Bradman played against. He made centuries and a double century against India
@champ Thanks for chiming in with your comment, but that's so unbecoming that you say just because Bradman had long break between two matches he scored good runs every time.
Bradman was a man with extraordinary talent which we all should commend.
If today's lot of cricketers get such a break you know what they will tell at the end of the match. They would say they are "short of match practice" that's why they couldn't perform.
@skill department
Bradman played 58 tests in his 20 year old career with an average 1 match in 4 months.....he had 4 months to prepare n every talented player would average nearly 100 if they get such a long b/w 2 matches...tell him to play 188 matches, he would not even come near to sachin....n 1 more point, there were only 4 important teams at that time..england..WI..NZ...n australia.....not as many as 20 during sachin's time
Deccan chargers from dlf ipl rocks!!
sachin tendulkar and ricky ponting are good batsman ian botham is good allrounder K.sangakara and A.gilcrist is good wicket keeper /batsman imran khan, m.murlalitharan are also good but first three position is this SIR DON BRADMAN SIR VIVIAN RICHARD AND BRIANLARA
sachin should be 1
Sachin must be out of list....
Hi Aakash you commented about "Sachin Tendulkar Does'nt deserve the second position . he deserves the last place among all cricketers in the world . Even Malinga , Brett Lee are better than him ." I think you are poor in Cricket.. his batting, bowling and fielding he performed always well. he is the number one in modern cricket and all times. Sachin not considered as a bowler that u compared with Malinga , Brett Lee.. Where you from man.. so sad :( now onwards before commenting just ask to some one.. shame :)
Sachin Tendulkar Does'nt deserve the second position . he deserves the last place among all cricketers in the world . Even Malinga , Brett Lee are better than him .
Ajit writes " Sachin Tendulkar should come first! ". Thats hilarious. Let me put it to you this way. If you average 50 with the bat in your career you are considered a champion. Bradman averaged basically 100 (99.94). Twice as good as a champion !!! Nobody has even come close to that. He did that on oncovered pitches and without the protective equipment such as chest pads, forearm guards and helmets. Bradman is clearly No. 1 with daylight 2nd. It's that simple !!!!! The best batsman - Don Bradman. The best fast bowler - Dennis Lillee. The best keeper/batsman - Adam Gilchrist. The best spinner - Shane Warne. The best all rounder - Jacques Kallis. They are the 5 certainty's in any list of the top 10/12 cricketers in history. As I'll go for the top 12 the other 7 would probably be (in no particular order) Sachin Tendulkar, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Viv Richards, Sir Len Hutton, Glenn McGrath, Curtly Ambrose and Sir Richard Hadlee.......honourable mentions to I.Botham, B.Lara, I.Khan, W.Akram, A.Knott, M.Holding, J.Garner, N Harvey, L Hutton, F Worrell, D Compton and R Ponting
yes you are right sandy,i also dont think that Gilli desrve the no.8 palace.He desrve no.1 spot.thats right.
If anybody deserve the no.1 place,no doubt he should be gilchrist. my top ten list is 1.ADAM GILCHRIST 2.DON BRADMAN 3.RICKY PONTING 4.LARA 5.MCGRATH 6.WARNE 7.RICHARDS 8.SOBERS 9.BEVAN 10.KALLIS
i dont think gilchrist deserv's. But Ponting is must.
@atuljayakrishnan We agree to disagree!
Anyway, thanks for your valuable comment.
good list , but couldave included the likes of Malcolm Marshall and Dennis Lille at the expense of Botham and Khan not coz they r lesser playerz, but to me, an an all time list not having the formerly mentioned dosnt seem fair enough.
@Siddharth Ganguly Sunil Gavaskar is definitely on my greatest cricketers of India.
playerz like shane warne n sunil gavaskar hav bin missd out itz not nly west indies n england can produce legends
What of Michael Holding?
@Zain Glad that you shared your top ten. The only disagreement to me is Sachin scoring so low in your list.
And Len Hutton was excellent in his era, glad your list had him.
the top 10 should shape like this
bradman
sobers
richards
dennis lillee
marshall
tendulkar
imran
pollock
hobbs
hutton
hammond
Bloody hell you have missed out mcgrath!!!!!!!!!!!!!
mcgrath is a great bowler,he should be in this list
Lara should
A top XI ever is certainly tough and I think you've had a good go. But not much use as a team - where are the opening bowlers?
I agree with Ajit that McGrath might deserve a slot but there's also a case for one of the Windies fastmen - maybe Ambrose. I would also go for Hadlee over Botham even though Both was a great match winner.
And what about Boycott? 100 first class hundreds and all that.
There is an old saying that if you want to pick someone to bat for your life pick Bradman but if you want to pick someone to bat for his own life pick Boycott!!
LOL
Its an impossible task to get a perfect XI.
Interesting hub- I hope there are more comments to follow
Compiling a top ten from all eras is very difficult, especially as there is the evident recency bias. @Ajit W.G. Grace was the first real superstar of cricket. My disagreement is with Viv Richards, Ian Botham and Adam Gilchrist. Gilchrist was a good batsman-wicketkeeper, but Jacques Kallis merits a place in this ten. I think that Sir Richard Hadlee is better than Sir Ian Botham. Hadlee took 431 wickets from just 86 matches and had an batting average of 27-odd. Botham's batting average was around 33, but he took 383 wickets from 102 Tests.
Glenn McGrath would not necessarily make my all-time, but there should have been room for Shane Warne, the first man to 600 and 700 Test wickets.
Sachin Tendulkar should come first!
and there are many more cricketers much deserving than adam, murali, and the second guy.
There is Sunil Gavaskar, a batsman who used thrash the bowlers all day during his time.
Then there is Shane Warne, the leg spin legend!
Then Glenn Mcgrath, the most economical wicket taking bowlers of all time!
kannanwrites Hub Author 3 weeks ago
@Srikar Charan Good reason to ponder upon.
@Rock Gilchrist is my personal favorites.
Many thanks to both of you for taking the time to comment.