Sachin Tendulkar

He is the man people travel thousands of miles to watch. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is mostly admired as Sachin Tendulkar. He was born in Bombay on 24^th April in 1973 to Ramesh Tendulkar and Rajni Tendulkar. He used to play cricket since childhood and his footsteps remained on all the matches he played. He is a right-handed excellent batsman. He is also a part-time bowler and a good fielder. He is the first player to score fifty Test centuries and the first to score fifty centuries in all international cricket combined; he now has 99 centuries in international cricket. He was the first batsman who scored a double century in ODI cricket.

He was a recipient of awards like the Arjun Award, Padma Shri, Padma Vibhushan, and more. He became the first sportsperson and the first personality who was awarded the honorary rank of Group Captain by the Indian Air Force without an aviation background. He was also the recipient of the 2010 Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for cricketer of the year at the ICC awards. Sachin retired from International cricket on 16^th November 2013.

Kapil Dev

Former Indian cricketer, Kapil Dev Ram Lal Nikhani was born on 6th January 1959. He was born in a timber merchant’s family. Unexpectedly for such a talented cricketer, there was never a line of cricket in his family. His father, Ramlal Nikhanj who was a perfectionist and a strict disciplinarian showed him the values of hard work. Considered as one of the greatest all-rounders to play the game, he is also believed to be one of the greatest captains in the history of cricket. Being a fast bowler and a middle-order batsman he was nicknamed as ‘Haryana Hurricane.

He was the captain of the Indian team during the victory of the 1983 cricket World Cup. He coached India’s national cricket team between October 1999 and August 2000. All his remarkable deeds have made him the cricketer of the Millennium he was India’s highest wicket-taker in both major forms of cricket, Test and ODI’s. He became the first player to take 200 ODI wickets.  Kapil Dev’s retirement took place in 1994, holding the world record for the greatest number of wickets taken in Test cricket.  

Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Manohar Gavaskar was born on 10^th July 1949 in Bombay, India. He gained the position to become the first Test batsman to score 10,000 Test runs. Gavaskar was widely appreciated for his technique against fast bowling with a particularly high average of 65.45 against the West Indies. He gained the Indian civilian honors of the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan. He was also a recipient of the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award. His first Test series as a captain overtook Bradman’s Test record. He had the leading runs (774) by a debutant. He was the only player with a 58-century partnership with 18 different players. His captaincy of the Indian team was not as much as expected. The team even went 31 Test matches without a victory.

Anil Kumble

Started playing cricket on the streets of Bengaluru to the Indian team, it has been a long journey. Hails from a state which produced legendary spinners like BS Chandrashekar. Anil Kumble was born on 17^th October 1970. In 1989, Kumble made his First-Class Debut. He had waited for so long to take a place in the squad. Kumble was one of the first players to vanish the myth that said spinners had to rely on the spin to get wickets. Kumble’s style was an instant success as he went on to pick wickets for India. Kumble takes his first 50 Test wickets in 10 matches and becomes the second fastest Indian bowler to reach 100 Test wickets.

It was those two moments in Kumble’s life that shaped the history of Indian cricket. With a bandage across his face, he played with a broken jaw for his team. He became the second cricketer to pick all wickets in an innings. He is certainly the unsung hero of the 1996 World Cup as he was the leading wicket-taker in the calendar after Shane Warne and McGrath. Anil Kumble’s 337 wickets in 271 ODI’s is still an unbeatable glory. He stands third in the world with 600 wickets. Kumble also went on to captain India and was instrumental in setting up a team for the future. He also coached team India. Kumble’s impact as a spinner is still vacant in the Indian team.  

Rahul Dravid

The underrated wall of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid who made more than 25,000 international runs has always stayed away from headlines. He was admired as the Wall due to his ability to bat for long durations, and Jammy due to his support of Kissan, a jam company. His father also worked for Kissan. Dravid holds multiple world cricketing records. After Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid is the second Indian batsman, and the third international player to have scored more than 12,000 runs in Test cricket. Rahul always remained in Sachin’s shadow as they played during the same era. 

Dravid was always a team man and never played himself or for glory. Dravid was the most versatile player for India, who did whatever was asked of him by the team. In Tests, India lost only 3 matches under his captaincy and became a cricketing force. He led India to a Test series win in West Indies for the first time in 35 years, in South Africa in 14 years also came under him. Rahul Dravid also became the second captain after Wadekar to win a Test series in England in 2007. He is the first and the only batsman to score a century in all 10 Test-playing nations. Presently Dravid holds the world record for the highest number of catches in Test cricket.

Saurav Ganguly

The fighting Indian captain Sourav Chandidas Ganguly was born on 8 July 1972. He is affectionately known as ‘Dada’. He initiated his cricket career by playing in state and school teams. He made his test debut in 1996 against England and scored a century. His highest test score is 203. He scored 22 centuries in ODI and 16 centuries in test cricket. He joined the Kolkata Knight Riders team as captain of the Indian Premier League in 2008. He played as a left-handed opening batsman. He became the 5th highest run-scorer in One Day Internationals (ODIs) and was the 5th person in history to cross the 10,000 run landmark. Ganguly is only the 2nd Indian to cross that mark in ODIs, after Sachin Tendulkar.

Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi

He is widely esteemed as one of the finest planners of his time, a quality that served to bring spin bowling to the forefront of India’s gradual rise to the top. Pataudi understood that spin was India’s strength and he built upon it. He used to play three spinners in the side. This is best echoed in the fact that Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, and S Venkataraghavan all had better averages and strike-rates under Pataudi. He was an attacking batsman. After completing his schooling in Dehradun, he joined Winchester College, from where he made over 2,000 runs in a season. The Nawab of Pataudi was India’s greatest captain ever. 

Mohammed Azharudheen

Azharudheen was born on 8^th February, Hyderabad, India. His parents were Mohammed Azizuddin and his mother Yosuf Sultana. He was an earlier Indian cricket captain and politician. Azharuddin took his footsteps to cricket for the Indian cricket team in test cricket 1984 against England at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on 31 December 1984. He was a middle-order batsman. He was the captain of the Indian cricket team in the 1990s. In 1991 he was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year and was for many years an inspirational figure in the Indian team with his athletic fielding and leadership.

Vinoo Mankad

Vinoo Mankad is considered one of India’s greatest all-rounders and retains a special place in the record books. He became the first Indian cricketer to reach 1000 runs and 100 wickets in Test match cricket taking just 23 matches to get there. The Lord’s Test match in 1952 has come to be known as Mankad’s Test. In that match, Mankad made 72 and 184 with the bat and he also picked up five wickets. He became one of a select few non-English players to feature on both batting and bowling honors boards at Lord’s.

In 1956 Mankad hit 231 against New Zealand at Chennai and together with Pankaj Roy settled the world record opening partnership of 413 runs which remained for 52 years. His score was a Test record for India at the time and would remain so until it was broken by Sunil Gavaskar in 1983.

Vijay Hazare

Vijay Samuel Hazare born on March 11, 1915 was the captain of the Indian cricket team in 14 matches.

He had left his mark for his great performance on India’s first tour of Australia in 1947-48 when he scored a century in each innings of the Adelaide Test. It took a huge effort against the run of play. Australia had increased with 674 runs, and as Hazare made his second-innings 145, where six of his team men were not able to score. Australia won by an innings and 16 runs. Hazare finished his career with a batting average of 47.65 from 30 Tests, but it was his Adelaide effort that seems to have made Hazare’s fame, as he was always best in fighting against the odds. He passed away on December 18, 2004.