Indeed, Cricket is popular around the world, especially in the countries which were ruled by the Britishers (old British colonies). Millions of people play and watch the game. Cricket is the most playing game in the subcontinent. In this article, we will give a glimpse of top 3 cricketers of India and Pakistan till today. India and Pakistan both have some legendary cricketers which are also known worldwide.
Top 3 Cricketers of India
1. Sachin Tendulkar
He was the Indian national team captain as well as a former international cricketer. The erstwhile batsman was arguably one of the most well-known Indians in the world. Tendulkar took up cricket when he was only eleven years old, made his Test match debut against Pakistan in Karachi at sixteen, and went on to represent Mumbai domestically and India internationally for nearly twenty-four years. It’s difficult for some players to surpass him because he has an astounding number of records throughout several different game genres.
Sachin took 201 international wickets, including 46 in Tests, and 154 in ODIs, where he is ranked as India’s twelfth-highest wicket scorer, and one in Twenty20 Internationals. Only Tendulkar has scored more than 30,000 runs across all international cricket categories. In addition, he is the first player to reach a milestone in all of the international cricket and the only one to score fifty-centuries in Test cricket. For his outstanding athletic achievements, he won the Arjuna Award in 1994. He also won the Khel Ratna Award in 1997, which is India’s highest sporting honour. In November 2013, the decision was announced by the Prime Minister’s Office to give him the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour.
In October 2013, after the two-Test series again West Indies, he announced that he would retire from all forms of cricket. In 2017, a documentary film was released about Tendulkar, featuring interviews with numerous former cricketers and sports commentators.
3. Kapil Dev
He is a former Indian cricketer. He was a powerful middle-order batsman and a fast-medium bowler. On October 16th, 1978, Dev played his first Test match in Pakistan’s Faisalabad. With his distinctive outswinger, he captured his maiden wicket of Sadiq Mohammad. He displayed his all-around skill in Karachi’s National Stadium during his third Test match when he scored India’s fastest Test half-century off 33 balls and two sixes in both innings.
Kapil played 130 Test matches for his nation and holds several outstanding records. When he scored two 5-wicket hauls, solidified his position as India’s top fast bowler. He is the only player in Test history, for example, to have 400 Test wickets and 4000 Test runs. Dev captained the Indian cricket team that led to the victory of the 1983 Cricket World Cup, making him the first captain from his country to do so. He is the first player to record 200 ODI wickets.
In 1979, he was given the Arjuna Award, the Padma Shri Award in 1982, the Padma and Bhushan Awards in 1991 and the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 1991 also. After retiring in 1994, Kapil Dev was appointed the Indian cricket team’s head coach in 1999. As a real Test all-rounder, there are not many who have surpassed him or will do so in the future, and his leadership qualities on the field and in the locker-room make him, undoubtedly, one of the bests.
3. M.S. Dhoni
The legendary player was an outstanding wicketkeeper-batsman and one of the finest ever. Dhoni (Mahendra Singh Dhoni) is an unorthodox batsman, in the sense that a large portion of his batting technique does not conform to coaching manuals. He is a professional cricketer from India who captained the Indian national cricket team in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014.
According to some former cricketers and even opponents, his behaviour on the cricket field was calm and composed. Under Dhoni’s captaincy, India won the Test cricket rankings for the first time in 2009. He was the first Indian wicketkeeper to reach 4000 Test runs. He has participated in most of the international games as a captain. Additionally, he guided the team to three ICC trophies, which include the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. While he served as the captain, India won the Asia Cup twice, in 2010 and 2016.
Moreover, under Dhoni’s direction, India won the ICC Test Champion Mace again in 2010 and 2011. For his uncountable achievements, numerous honours were bestowed upon him, including the Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri Awards in 2009 and 2018, the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award of the decade (2011-2020), and the Castrol Indian Cricketer of the Year Award in 2011.
In 2019, the Stadium’s South stand was named after Dhoni by Jharkhand Cricket Association. A movie was made based on Dhoni’s life, titled “M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story”. A book was also written by Bharat Sundaresan on the life of M.S. Dhoni which was named “The Dhoni Touch: unravelling the enigma that is Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Top 3 Cricketers of Pakistan
1. Imran Khan
He is a politician, a celebrity and undoubtedly Pakistan’s greatest cricketer ever. In Lahore, at the age of 16, Khan made his first-class cricket debut. He made his Test cricket debut in 1971 in Edgbaston, against England. One of the pioneers of the reverse swing bowling technique in the late 1970s was Khan. The peak of his legacy as a fast bowler as well as an all-rounder was during his first year as a captain. He was the first Pakistani and the fourth bowler in the world to take 362 wickets in Test cricket. Which is why he has been named captain of this all-time great Pakistan team. According to ESPNcricinfo, Khan is “indisputably the greatest cricketer to emerge from Pakistan, and arguably the world’s second-best all-rounder after Garry Sobers”.
During the 1990s, he also promoted health and immunisation programmes in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand while serving as UNICEF’s Special Representative for Sports. Khan led Pakistan to its first-ever Test series win in India in 1987, and that same year, Pakistan won its first series with England as well. In 1992, Pakistan won the Cricket World Cup under his captaincy. Khan was awarded Hilal-e-Imtiaz, the second-highest civilian honour bestowed by the Pakistani government. The President’s Pride of Performance Award in 1983, was presented to him. He also won several accolades such as the International Cricket Council Hall of Fame, Centennial Year celebrations, Inaugural Silver Jubilee Award and many more.
2. Javed Miandad
He is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator, and former player who is renowned for his unorthodox batting and captaincy techniques. He was regarded as “the greatest batsman Pakistan has ever produced” by ESPNcricinfo. Since he was the best batsman in Pakistan, he had a significant amount of responsibility on him to deliver and that’s exactly what he did. To lead Pakistan to the title, he scored five half-centuries in just nine innings, including fifty-plus scores in the semifinal and finals. He has held the position of captain for the Pakistan team. In a 1975 Cricket World Cup match in Edgbaston, Birmingham, Miandad made his One Day International debut against the West Indies.
In the 1986 Australia-Asia Cup played in Sharjah, Pakistan achieved their first victory and Miandad finished his innings with 116 not out in the final against India. He became a national hero and this is still regarded as one of the most historic events in the history of ODI Cricket. The first player to play in six World Cups is Javed Miandad. He is one of the six Pakistani players who have their names inscribed in the Lord’s’ Hall of Fame. He received the President’s Pride of Performance Award in 1986. In 1992, the Sitara-e-Imtiaz, Pakistan’s third-highest honour, was presented to him by the country’s President. After his playing career, Miandad held important positions in the Pakistan Cricket Board and has continued to coach the Pakistan Cricket team on several occasions.
3. Babar Azam
He is a Pakistani International cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team in all formats. It has felt as though another hidden talent has been unleashed ever since he was selected for the Pakistan under-19 team for the 2010 World Cup as a fifteen-year-old. Regarded as one of the best batsmen in contemporary world cricket, he is the only batsman to be ranked in the top 3 in all formats. He made a century in the opening game of the National T20Is Cup, making him the first Pakistani cricketer to score three centuries and more than 1500 runs in T20Is cricket in a single year. In T20Is and ODIs, he is ranked as the number 1 batter, and in Test matches, he comes third. His 2000th run was scored in Test cricket in the third and final match series, achieving the feat in his 29th Test.
Babar reached the 1500-run record in T20Is in 39 innings during the second T20I versus England, becoming the joint-fastest batsman to do so. The only cricketer to score five consecutive centuries in a single country (UAE) is Babar Azam. He has the highest number of runs in ICC T20 World Cup in 2021, that is 303 runs. In the fourth innings of a game, he also sets the record for the second-most minutes spent batting. He has the fourth-highest innings test score by the Pakistani player. He was part of the ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year 2017, 2019 and 2020 Pakistan Super League Player of the Tournament and Winner of ICC Player of the Month for April 2021.
Conclusion
Cricket is one of the few sports that are world widely known and liked by people. Apart from top 3 cricketers of India and Pakistan, the nations have produced dozens of the best players of the game. Without any doubt, Pakistan and India had some of the legendary players of their time. They still have a lot of prominent cricketers who will continue to bring prestige to both countries.