20 Men who Revolutionarised the Game of Cricket

20 Men who Revolutionarised the Game of Cricket: Cricket is a game full of twists and tales, coupled with spices and crunches. And perhaps the ever revolutionary aspect of the game makes it much more enthralling, thereby serving a perfect platter for the eyes. Cricket has revolutionized to a magnified extent in the past few decades than what it did for almost a century prior to it. And there have been some positive catalysts inflicting or rather enforcing the changes to take act. To be precise, we have made an attempt to enlighten upon the stimuli or rather the top 20 revolutionaries of International Cricket that changed our viewpoint to the game. 20 Men who Revolutionarised the Game of Cricket. 1. Sanath Jayasuriya’s Powerplay Expoitation: Sanath Jayasuriya. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Prior to the 1996 World Cup, no one ever thought of taking advantages of the fielding restrictions in the first 15 overs. It was Romesh Kaluwitharana and Sanath Jayasuriya, in particular who changed the ideology and pointed out to the Cricketing world that the initial overs are meant to be taken advantage of and these two changed the perception of the world as to how to start an ODI innings. Earlier, 60 odd runs were scored in the first 15 but this Sri Lankan opening pair showed the way that how 120+ could easily be scored in the first 15 and that contributed an important factor to Sri Lanka’s triumph in 1996 World Cup. 2. Jonty Rhodes’ Electrifying Fielding: Jonty Rhodes. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Prior to his entry in the international cricket, fielding aspects of the game were not much given focus and players were happy giving away casual runs rather than putting in some dives for saving a few runs. But Jonty Rhodes revolutionized the concept of fielding and vividly claimed that fielding could easily win a game and can also charge up the entire unit. Due to his intently aggressive approach in the field, batsmen were forced to be on the defensive side. His emphatic run out attempt by running in from point region to dismiss Inzamam-ul-Haq is still regarded as the best run out in the game. It was him who brightened the concept of “Catches win matches!” 3. Sir Vivian Richards’ destructive ploys: Sir Viv Richards. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Cricket was considered as somewhat a defensive sport until the introduction of Sir Vivian Richards into the game. He was the first batsman to serve a platter of hard-hitting to the audiences. Also, he became the fastest player to reach to 5000 ODI runs in a matter of just 120 innings. In such days of cricket, when a score of 200 in a team’s innings was considered winning, Viv Richards smacked an unbeaten knock of 189 runs in an ODI innings. Surely, he was a revolutionary batsman to say the least. 4. Shane Warne’s leggies: Shane Warne. (© Getty Images) Spin was considered as a means to restrict runs by defensive bowling. But this concept of spin bowling was hammered to the ground by none other than Shane Warne, who transformed spin bowling into an art. Warne’s delivery to Mike Gating in the 1993 Ashes has been referred to as the ball of the century. Warne showed the cricket world, where the real strength of a bowler lies. Warne stands tall with 708 wickets in tests and was a phenomenal spinner. 5. Sachin’s 200 in ODIs and Century of Centuries: Sachin Tendulkar. (© Getty Images) Prior to February, 2010, scoring a double hundred in ODIs was thought of as a dream with minimal chances of it coming to reality. But it was the Master Blaster from India who reached the feat of scoring 200* in a single ODI innings in 2010 against South Africa. Since then, 4 batsmen have managed to surpass 200 in ODIs. Also, Sachin is the sole player on the planet to have registered 100 international centuries by his name, 49 in ODIs, coupled with 51 in tests. He used to score century with sheer ease as if it is kind of a child’s play and that too in the international level. 6. AB de Villiers Innovative Cricketing: Ab de Villiers. (© Getty Images) Well no words are enough to describe the class of this individual. He is capable of scoring 30 odd runs in 200 odd deliveries and is also able enough to score a century off 31 deliveries. Perhaps the most innovative batsman the cricket world has ever seen. He has revolutionizing the batting stances and style with his unorthodox scoops and other such shots. He is well and truly called the Mr. 360 degree of Cricket, owing to his capability of playing shots all around the pitch in all deliveries. 7. Wasim and Waqar’s Reverse Swings: Wasim Akram. (Photo Source: PA Photos ) Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis formed the most destructive bowling pair when it came to pace bowling. With a pace of over 140 kmph, both of them mastered swing bowling and that was simply incredible. On dead subcontinent tracks too, Wasim fetched adequate amount of swing and statistics reveal of how successful they were in the game. For instance, Wasim Akram was the first ODI player to clinch 500 wickets in the format. 8. Sehwag, Dhoni’s batting style, Minimum Footwork, Maximum Result: MS Dhoni. (© Getty Images) Yes, indeed! These two have been hugely successful as batsmen defying all the odds that only perfect footwork make one a brilliant batsman. Sehwag and Dhoni have almost led to a revolution in batting styles and showed that even unorthodox measures could bring fruitful results. They mastered in their hand-eye co-ordination and have sharp reflexes and that mattered the most over anything else. 9. Michael Bevan’s Finishes to ODIs: Michael Bevan (Photo Source: AFP) Bevan has been regarded as one of the best finishers of ODI cricket and undoubtedly, he defined the word finishing in his era in the format. He showed the world the exact meaning of finishing off the game by batting in the middle order and anchoring the team over the victory line. As a matter of fact, Bevan averaged over 50 in ODIs. 10. Chris Gayle’s Swaggering Sixes: Chris Gayle. (Photo Source: Gallo Images) Well the Jamaican giant with 15 T20 centuries after his name, speaks of himself. In fact, none can cope up with his butchering instincts with the bat. A player who scored 175 off 66 deliveries in an IPL match simply defines what hard hitting is all about. Also, he has been the revolutionary in hitting sixes and is capable of hitting 108-110 metres of sixes with sheer ease. Also, he stands to be the highest six hitter in IPL. 11. Adam Gilchrist’s Batting Stint: Adam Gilchrist. (©Getty Images) Prior to Gilly’s arrival in international Cricket, a wicket keeper was considered as a player who would keep wickets and bat occasionally. Gilchrist revolutionized this concept and turned out to be one of the best pinch-hitting batsmen of the time. The opening duo framed with him and Hayden swaggered the opposition in no time. Also, he was simply magnetic as a keeper and perhaps possessed the safest pair of hands behind the stumps. 12. Mushtaq Ahmed’s Doosras: Mushtaq Ahmed. (Photo Source: ESPNcricinfo Ltd) Well this Pakistani bowler was one of the first to exploit the advantages of the spinning tracks of the sub-continent. Also, he mastered in bowling the ‘doosra’, the delivery that spins opposite to an off-spinner. He clinched 185 wickets in tests by bowling some sensational spinning deliveries. 13. Sourav Ganguly’s Captaincy Stint- Even the best could be beaten: Sourav Ganguly. (Photo Source: AFP) India emerged to be a bombarding talent since the era of Sourav Ganguly as the captain of the Indian team and the legacy continued. It was in those times that India installed fighting spirits into the game and did not even fear the scorching talents of the best line ups viz. Australia. In fact, it was under Ganguly’s leadership that Steve Waugh’s victory streak was put to an end in 2001 by an young and inexperienced Indian squad. India stood to be the runners up in the 2003 World Cup. 14. Rahul Dravid’s Style of Play: Rahul Dravid.(Photo Source: Getty Images) Well if one has to define the grammar of Cricket, there is no better reference than Rahul Dravid. He was perhaps the most complete batsman of Indian Cricket. Dravid anchored the Indian ship on many occasions and thus earned the name, “The Wall”. He was a superb batsman to say the least and focused upon playing a perfect knock every time he came out to bat. Such a player with exquisite orthodox approach to batting was indeed something revolutionary. 15. Brian Lara’s Gigantic Tons: Brian Lara. (Photo Source: PA Photos) Well, no other in the game possesses the demolishing talent like Brian Charles Lara. He is the sole batsman to have scored 400 in a single test innings, which he did against England. Also, he possesses the record of holding the highest score in List A cricket with 501* runs in an innings. Lara was simply a brilliant batsman to say the least and his unbelievable tons are the evident of the same fact. 16. Yuvraj Singh’s Brave Attitude: Yuvraj Singh. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Who can expect one to win the World Cup for his nation with cancer and swagger out the deadly disease from his life and be back on the Cricket field as if nothing happened? This needs a brave heart and the tiger of India, Yuvraj Singh has done exactly the same thing. The left handed batsman played a number of match winning knocks for his team which even included the six sixes in an over in ICC World T20, 2007. Yuvraj Singh has been the symbolic of bravery and his sheer dedication towards the game does make him THE one in the bunch. 17. Ricky Ponting’s Winning Habit: Ricky Ponting. (Photo Source: AFP) Ponting, also called as the Punter, is the only captain in the planet to register 2 World Cup wins as a captain. In fact, Australia grew up into a habit of winning and they won almost every tournament during his tenure as the captain. When the team lost, it was considered as somewhat a shock. As of now, Ponting remains as the most successful captains in ODI Cricket. 18. Imran Khan’s Leadership Abilities: Imran Khan. (Photo Source: PA Photos) Well, he was the true leader of Pakistani Cricket. This all-rounder led his squad to a sensational World Cup triumph in 1992. He was more of a leader who would manage his troops both off and on the field than the conventional captains. Imran Khan did set an example as to how a leader should be. Pakistani team was hugely disciplined during his days as a captain. 19. Sir Don Bradman’s Consistency: Sir Don Bradman. (Photo Source: Getty Images) No one on Earth could possess the test batting average of 99.94. In those days, this legend had 29 test centuries by his name. He made batting look disgustingly easy and he showed to the World that one does not need to know rocket science to excel in batting. Sir Bradman showed the path for being a successful batsman and the cricket world is following that till date. 20. Kapil Dev’s all-round Brilliance: Kapil Dev. (Photo Source: Getty Images) A few decades earlier, there was only a single role assigned to the players i.e. either to perform as a batsman, bowler or a wicket keeper. Kapil Dev literally defined the concept of an all-rounder. Being a terrific fast bowler himself, he was an equally dependable batsman. He showed his class as a batsman in the 1983 World Cup in the match against Zimbabwe. India were reduced to 17 for 4 when Kapil Dev anchored the innings and scored 175 runs. Also, Kapil Dev was the first Indian batsman to score a century in ODIs. He was simply an ecstatic all-rounder.