10 Greatest Indian Cricketers

From the 1930s to the 1970s, cricket in India had been progressing at a very slow pace. It was only after 1970 that India starting rising in international cricket and proved itself to be a competitive country. In 1983, India won it’s first World Cup, and made its debut as having one of the best South Asian cricket teams. Since then Indian cricketers have not looked back and the country has produced many greats of the game.

Here are the 10 Greatest and most Successful Indian Cricketers (in no specific order).

Virat Kohli

Born on 5^th November 1988, Kohli is considered one of the best cricketers in the world. He is also the most successful test captain for India. His aggressive yet discreet play style has gain massive popularity among South Asians, even though at the start of his career he faced a lot of criticism and harsh judgements from cricket fans and professionals.

Kohli became the fastest Indian batsman to score 10000 scores in ODIs. Virat has scored over 20000 runs in international cricket. He has received the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC’s Men’s Cricketer of the Decade 2010-2020. This is just one of his dozens of trophies and awards. Kohli currently is the leading run scorer in T20Is.

Rohit Sharma

He was born on 30^th April, 1987. Rohit Sharma is one of the most successful modern Indian cricketers of all time. Sharma started from scratch in 1999 where he joined a cricket camp with the help of his uncle. He is a right-handed opening batsman.

Rohit has over 3000 runs in test cricket, and over 12000 runs in overall international cricket. In November 2020, he was nominated for the ICC’s Men ODI Cricketer of the Decade award. He is the only Indian player to have played in every edition of the T20 World Cup since its inception in 2007.

MS Dhoni

Born on 7^th July 1981, his full name is Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He is one of the most successful and appreciated cricket team captains of all time. He is the only captain who has won a T20 WC, ODI World Cup and Champions Trophy.

A remarkable feat that no other captain has achieved in the game. Dhoni is one of the leading wicket keeper of the game. He has scored over 10000 runs in ODIs. He is the first Indian wicket keeper to score over 4000 runs in test cricket. For both 2008 and 2009, he was the ICC ODI player of the Year.

Virendra Sehwag

Born on 20^th December 1978 in Delhi, India, Sehwag is known as one of the most destructive batsman of all time in the history of cricket. He is a right-handed batsman and a right handed off-break bowler. Sehwag has over 8000 runs in ODI cricket. It is because of his fast scoring rate that he is considered one of the most destructive batsman, his score rate being 103.44 runs per 100 balls. He was the second fastest to reach 7000 runs.

Sehwag has scored the fastest 250 runs off only 207 balls. He has been specifically admired for his scoring against Pakistan, which happens to be India’s archrival, scoring three centuries against Pakistan. Because of his performances in 2008 and 2009 he was awarded the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World.

Sachin Tendulkar

He was born on 24^th April 1973. Sachin Tendulkar is one of the most successful and richest Indian cricketers, while being one of the greatest batsman as well. Being the highest run scorer of all time, which is because he has over 18000 runs in ODIs and over 15000 runs in test cricket. He is also the youngest to reach 1000 runs in test cricket.

Tendulkar is a cross-dominant player as he bats and bowls with his right hand but also occasionally practices left handed bowling. In 1997, he was selected as one of the 5 Wisden Cricketers of the Year. 2010, he was awarded the ICC Cricketer of the Year, along with his dozens of trophies and awards.

Rahul Dravid

Born on 11^th January 1973, Dravid is one of the most popular cricketers of all time. He has scored 24177 runs in International cricket, which grants him the privilege of being one of the greatest batsman in the world. He is a right handed batter who was known as ‘The Wall.’ Dravid also holds the record for the most catches caught by a non-wicket-keeper player in test cricket, with 210. In 2000, he was one of the 5 Wisden Cricketers of the Year. In 2004, he was the ICC’s Cricketer of the Year along with his dozens of other awards.

Saurav Ganguly

Born on 9^th July 1972. He is one of the most popular Indian cricketers as he also established himself as one of the world’s leading batsman. He was the third batsman in history to cross 10000 runs, also having over 11000 runs in ODI cricket.

Saurav is also one of India’s most successful test captains, winning 21 out of 49 test matches. He was also nicknamed “Dada” as well as the “Maharaja” of cricket by fans. He remains the only cricketer to win four consecutive Man of the Match in ODIs. Ganguly also holds the record for achieving the highest individual score by any batter in an ICC Champion’s Trophy.

Anil Kumble

Born on 17^th October 1970, Anil Kumble was an exceptional right-arm leg-spin bowler. He played cricket continuously for 18 years. He holds the massive record of over 40000 balls in his test career, which is the second highest in the world and the highest in India. Kumble is also one of the only 6 cricketers who have taken over 900 wickets in their career, having 956 wickets. Kumble was one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1996.

Sunil Gavaskar

He was born on 10^th July 1949. Considered as one of the greatest batsman of all time, he held the record of 34 test centuries for almost two decades, as well as being the first batsman to score 10000 test runs. Gavaskar also has 100 catches in the red ball format of the game. He was one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1980.

Kapil Dev

Born on 6^th January 1959, Kapil Dev was a fast-medium bowler and a middle-order batsman. It was under his captaincy that the Indian team won the 1983 Cricket World Cup. He has also scored over 5000 runs in tests. Wisden named him as the Indian Cricketer of the Century in 2002.