Top 10 Greatest Cricketers Of All Time

Top 10 Greatest Cricketers Of All Time

1. Sir Don Bradman (Australia)

• Sir Don Bradman, also known as “the don”, was a former Australian international cricketer.
• Bradman is popularly known as one of the greatest batsmen in cricket history.
• Bradman’s Test batting average of 99.94 is considered one of the greatest achievements by any sportsman in any major sport.
• Bradman was considered the first cricket celebrity in Australia.
• In 1997, Sir Don Bradman was called the “greatest living Australian” by Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
• In 2009, he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
• In his batting match against the Australian Services cricket team, Bradman scored 112 runs in less than two hours.
• A former journalist, Dick Whittington, wrote, “I have seen today the “ghost of a once great cricketer”.

2. Sachin Tendulkar (India)

• Sachin Tendulkar is one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket.
• Sachin has a record of ODI and Test cricket runs with more than 18,000 runs and 15,000 runs, respectively, so he is the all-time highest run scorer.
• Wisden in 2002 ranked him the second-greatest ODI batsman of all time, after Viv Richards, and also the second-greatest Test batsman of all time, after Sir Don Bradman.
• Tendulkar was also part of the Indian team that won the Cricket World Cup in 2011. It was the first win in six World Cups that he appeared for India.
• Tendulkar had been named “Player of the Tournament” at the 2003 World Cup.
• Tendulkar also received several awards from the government of India, like the Arjuna Award (1994), the Khel Ratna Award (1997), the Padma Shri (1998), and the Padma Vibhushan (2008).
• Tendulkar received highest civilian award, “BHARAT RATNA,” in November 2013
• In 2010, Time magazine included Tendulkar in its annual list of the most influential people in the world.

3. Sir Garfield Sobers (West Indies)

• Sir Garfield Sobers also known as Sir Gary or Sir Garry Sobers.
• Garry is a former cricket player who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974.
• Garry is a multi-skilled player in cricket history; he was a highly skilled bowler, a classy batsman, and an excellent fielder. He is widely known to be greatest cricketer and greatest all-rounder of all time.
• Garry was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to cricket in 1975.
• Sobers was also inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009.
• Garry has recorded the fifth-highest batting average in Test cricket. He is on the list of cricketers with more than 5,000 runs.

4. Sir Viv Richards (West Indies)

• Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards is famously known as one of the greatest batsmen of all time.
• Richards was part of team that won both the 1975 Cricket World Cup and the 1979 Cricket World Cup.
• Richards scored nearly 7,000 runs in one-day internationals and 8,540 runs in 121 test matches, for an average of 50.23. more than 36,000 in first-class cricket.
• In 1999, VV Richards was knighted for his contributions to cricket.
• In 2009, Richards was included in the “ICC Cricket Hall of Fame”.
• In 2000, by a 100-member panel of experts, he was voted one of Wisden’s five Cricketers of the Century.

5. Brian Lara (West Indies)

• Brian Charles Lara, a Trinidadian former international cricketer, is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen of all time.
• Brian Lara is also popularly nicknamed “The Prince of Port of Spain” or “The Prince”.
• Lara holds the record for the highest individual score of 501 in first-class cricket.
• Lara also holds the record for the highest individual score in a Test inning after scoring 400 not out at Antigua during the 4th Test against England in 2004.
• He is the only cricketer who holds the record of 400+ runs in international test cricket in an innings.
• In September 2012, he was inducted into the ICC’s Hall of Fame for the 2012–13 season.

6. Jack Hobbs (England)

• Hobbs was famously named one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, along with Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Viv Richards, Sir Garfield Sobers, and Shane Warne.
• Hobbs is widely known as “The Master,” and he is also regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket.
• He is the leading run-scorer and century-maker in first-class cricket, with 61,237 runs and 197 centuries.
• He was the first professional cricketer who was knighted in 1953.
• Hobbs was also among the few cricketers who were twice selected as Wisden’s Cricketer of the Year in 1909 and 1926; the second person is “Pelham” Warner, who has received this award twice.

7. Shane Warne (Australia)

• Shane Warne was an Australian international cricketer known as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of cricket.
• Warne also known by the nicknames “Warnie” and “Hollywood.”
• In his 145 Test appearances, he took 708 wickets and set the world record for the most wickets taken by any bowler in Test cricket until 2007.
• Warne was also a part of the Australian team that won the Cricket World Cup in 1999.
• Without making a century, Warne holds the world record for scoring the most runs by any bowler. The record still stands at 3,154 runs.
• In 2004–2005, he was named Wisden’s leading cricketer in the world for Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.
• His first ball in Ashes cricket with a great leg spin was a classy example of his miraculous abilities and was later referred to as the “ball of the century”.
• The most notable T20 achievement of Shane Warne was leading the Rajasthan Royals to the title in the inaugural edition of the IPL.

8. Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)

• Muralitharan took 800 Test wickets at an average of 22.72 and ended up being the highest wicket-taker in the format.
• He was one of great spinners who dominated the game at the turn of the century; his record is 534 wickets in 350 ODIs is also a testimony to his great endeavour.
• He also developed a new type of delivery, called the “Doosra,” in which the ball turns away from a right-handed batsman, proving his art of cricket.
• He is being a part of10 five-wicket hauls and 15 four-wicket hauls in ODIs.
• Muralitharan has taken nine wickets in a Test innings twice and on two occasions he has taken 10 wickets in a Test in four sequential matches .
• Murlitharan also became the first Sri Lankan to be included into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2017.
• In 2002, cricket ranked him as the leading bowler in history, He was only ahead of Australian great Shane Warne.

9. Kumar  Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)

• Kumar Sangakkara is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer and former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team.
• He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wicketkeeper batsmen in the history of cricket and is a member of ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
• Kumar Sangakkara is the second-highest run scorer in international cricket history.
• In 2012, Sangakkara also won the ICC Cricketer of the Year title.
• Sangakkara in ODI cricket holds the record for the most wicket-keeping dismissals.
• Sangakkara has held respected 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career of 15 years. At his retirement, he was the second-highest run scorer in ODI cricket, next only to Sachin Tendulkar, and also the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket.
• Sangakkara was also named Wisden’s Leading Cricketer in the World in 2011 and 2014.

10. Ricky Ponting (Australia)

• Ponting is one of the most successful captain in international cricket history, a winning rate of 67.91% he holds 220 victories in 324 matches.
• He is thethird in the list of cricketers with the highest number of  international centuries scored.
• Ponting beingthe only cricketer in history to be involved in 100 Test victories.
• He wasalso named as  “The Cricketer of the Decade 2000”.
• He led Australia to win consecutive ICC Champions Trophy victoriesin 2006 and 2009.
• He is also being one of the most successful Test captains of all time, with the record of48 victories in 77 Tests between 2004 and 31 December 2010.