Harsh Thakor
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This is my evaluation of the 50 greatest cricketers of the last 40 years in my tentative order of merit.
I have given consideration to ODI's also but greater emphasis comparatively to performances in test cricket.Ability to in and turn matches given due consideration as well as strength of team played for and opposition.This prompted me to place Brian Lara ahead of greats like Kallis,Botham and Wasim.Another very important criteria was influence and impact on the era where Lillee scored over Mcgrath with his greater ferocity and agression.
Rated Wasim above Mcgrath as he was a considerably better batsmen ,possesed more skill overall as a paceman and was also a successful skipper.For sheer artistry and skill I think Wasim would be my choice in an all-time world xi instead of Mcgrath.
No batsmen scored more mammoth totals like Lara or had as high an average percentage score out of the team's total.Viv Richards never had to carry the brunt of such weak side's batting as Brian and in contrast played for a team of world -beaters.Just look at Lara's 5 best innings in test cricket which throws light on his greatness.
Statistically Kallis was the king as an all-rounder but lacked the x factor and did not turn the complexion or shape games like Imran, Viv, Warne and Sachin.On pure stats he could well have been at no 1.At his best Botham was close to the greatest ever and could turn game more than any cricketer.Sadly his form declined after 1982 .In the 1980 Jubliee tset and 1981 Ashse Botham even overshadowed Gary Sobers and from 1977 was on par with Viv Richards and Dennis Lillee as a cricketer.
In terms of pure bowling artistry or creative genius no paceman was ever the equal of Wasim Akram who was the equivalent of a magician. Wasim was the ultimate champion amongst O.D.I. bowlers.In his peak Wasim could overpower every great bowler even in test cricket.The greatest batsmen like Lara found him the hardest to face.
Adam Gilchrist in his era was like the Viv Richards of his time making the impact of a bulldozer.Adam Gilchrist got ranking as he was the best match-winner of his time who simply pulverized the opposition holding the bat like a machine gun.Sehwag could bat like guns blazing and no opening batsmen wa s ever more destructive at his best or had such a penchant for making mammoth scores.Barry Richards did not play official test cricket but of what we saw of him in Packer cricket and first class cricket was more complete than any batsmen.In WSC supertests he even overshadowed Viv Richards in his best 2 innings,topping the averages overall.Kapil Dev deserves his due considering he bolwed on flat pancakes.On his day he could make as exposive an impact on the course of a game like even Sobers or Botham resembling a hurricane.He wa sthe best ODI all-rounder of them all.Rahul Dravid was grit and determination personified and like Steve Waugh the ultimate man for a crisis.One of the best one down batsmen of al time.Border and Steve Waugh had a great influence on the game as leaders and in their era were the ultimate batsmen to bat for your life.Rated Border higher because of the calibre of opposition he faced and his role in sowing the seeds for the renaissance in Australian cricket.Ranked Greg Chappell ahead of Ricky Ponting because he overall had marginally more class and faced stronger opponents.I ahve taken Greg's remarkable aggregate of 1416 runs at 56.14 in Kerry Packer WSC cricket.Neverthless statistically in his peak period Ponting was the best batsmen of the last 4 decades and master against pace.Inzmamam was the best batsmen as a pure match-winner who could be flamboyant even in a crisis and go on to turn and win games.Zaheer Abbas was the ultimate stylsit and the best attacking batsmen aginst spin and medium pace of his generation.Very close to being the best O.D.I.Batsmen of his era averaging over 47.Curtly Ambrose was close to the best ever match-winner in a 4th innings and the most accurate of al the genuine quickies .Hadlee and Mcgrath were fast-medim but posessed more control than any paceman ever.Mcgrath could have been the most intelligent bowler ever who could be as daunting to face in times as even Lillee or Marshall.Abdul Qadir on his day was as lethal as Warne and bowled the googly better than anyone.Andy Roberts was very similar to Dennis Lille with his great versatility while no paceman posessed more average speed through the air as Michael Holding.Dale Steyn is statistically around the greatest paceman but did not face calibre of opposition as earlier greats did.Garner wa sthe most accurate paceman of all with Ambrose who could bowl as fast as anyone on his day.Courtney Walsh was simpla a bowling metronome,the ultimate workhorse amongst pacemna.He could even be harder to face than Ambrose with his guile.Aravinda De'Silva was like a technician and artist rolled into one.Sangakaara was the ultimate run making machine of the last decade superbly blending technique with artistry.Cllive Lloyd gave West Indian cricket a new dimension knitting a bunch of talented individual sinto an invincible unit .He defined West Indian cricket to the degree Worrel,Sobesr and Richards did being ever-consistent as a batsmen.David Gower was the most elegant batsmen of them all.Graham Gooch was the ultimate master against great pace.Gordon Grenidge for a whil in the 1980's was the best batsmen in the world,overshadowing even Viv Richards wit his 2 double centuries in England in 1984.Lastly I put Asif Iqbal as he had a tremendous influence on the game ,becoming a great batsmen in the later 1970's.
No cricketer could at his best turn a game or intimidate opposition like Viv Richards who revealed the aura of a great emperor.Viv was the king amongst batsmen in O.D.I.cricket turning games more than Tendulkar or Lara.In peak era even in only test cricket Viv was the best of the last 50 years.He fell out only on consistency.Shane Warne did more to shape arguably the best team ever than any cricketer and won more matches than Imran or Viv.Above all he redefined the role of the leg-spinner in the game.Imran was the greatest leader of them all who defined nation's cricket or shaped it's fortunes both as a skipper and cricketer to reach the top of the pedestal more than anyone.Tendulkar defined his age more than any cricketer with longevity at the top more than any sportsman let alone cricketer.His phenomenal comeback after tennis elbow was taken into account.
Top 50 cricketers of last 40 years ranked in tentative order of merit.
1.Shane Warne
2.Sachin Tendulkar
3.Viv Richards
4.Imran Khan
5.Malcolm Marshall
6.Dennis Lillee
7.Muthiah Murlitharan
8.Brian Lara
9.Ian Botham
10.Jacques Kallis
11.Richard Hadlee
12.Wasim Akram
13.Glen Mcgrath
14.Adam Gilchrist
15.Sunil Gavaskar
16.Barry Richards
17.Greg Chappell
18.Ricky Ponting
19.Curtly Ambrose
20.Alan Border
21.Waqar Younus
22.Javed Miandad
23.Kumar Sangakaara
24.Kapil Dev
25.Steve Waugh
26.Rahul Dravid
27.Virendra Sehwag
28.Clive Lloyd
29.Dale Steyn.
30.Abdul Qadir
31.Andy Roberts
32.Joel Garner
33.Graham Gooch
34.Michael Holding
35.Gordon Greenidge.
36.David Gower
37.Martin Crowe
38.Inzamam Ul Haq.
39.Alan Donald
40.Aravinda De'Silva
41.Zaheer Abbas
42.Younus Khan
43.Andrew Flintoff
44.Shaun Pollock
45.Kevin Pieterson
46.Courtney Walsh
47.David Boon
48.Gundapa Vishwanath
49.Mark Waugh
50.Asif Iqbal
Ultimately gave the top positions to Warne,Tendulkar,Richards and Imran because they influenced the course of the game more than anyone.I would apologize if there is element of bias in terms of separating Tendulkar,Imran ,Warne and Viv .
Gave consideration to Warne's role in Australia becoming a superpower i world cricket and bringing back the role of the leg-spinner.Tendulkar's phenomenal longevity at the top was more than that of Viv and Imran who were ahead as pure match-winners.Viv intimdated oposition more than any cricketer,let alone batsmen .Imran shaped the destinny of his nation as a leader and cricketer more than anyone.Had Imran performed at his best with both bat and ball and had Pakistan been more dominant at the top of the pedestal he may well have been at no 1.
Very unfortunate to omit such names as Des Haynes,Alvin Kalicharan,Dilip Vengsarkar,Richie Richardson,Saed Anwar,Chris Cairns ,Anil Kumble,Mark Taylor,Geoff Boycott,Majid Khan etc.All could so easily have made it.Excluded Ian Chappell and Geoff Boycott as they made their major contribution before 1977.
I have given consideration to ODI's also but greater emphasis comparatively to performances in test cricket.Ability to in and turn matches given due consideration as well as strength of team played for and opposition.This prompted me to place Brian Lara ahead of greats like Kallis,Botham and Wasim.Another very important criteria was influence and impact on the era where Lillee scored over Mcgrath with his greater ferocity and agression.
Rated Wasim above Mcgrath as he was a considerably better batsmen ,possesed more skill overall as a paceman and was also a successful skipper.For sheer artistry and skill I think Wasim would be my choice in an all-time world xi instead of Mcgrath.
No batsmen scored more mammoth totals like Lara or had as high an average percentage score out of the team's total.Viv Richards never had to carry the brunt of such weak side's batting as Brian and in contrast played for a team of world -beaters.Just look at Lara's 5 best innings in test cricket which throws light on his greatness.
Statistically Kallis was the king as an all-rounder but lacked the x factor and did not turn the complexion or shape games like Imran, Viv, Warne and Sachin.On pure stats he could well have been at no 1.At his best Botham was close to the greatest ever and could turn game more than any cricketer.Sadly his form declined after 1982 .In the 1980 Jubliee tset and 1981 Ashse Botham even overshadowed Gary Sobers and from 1977 was on par with Viv Richards and Dennis Lillee as a cricketer.
In terms of pure bowling artistry or creative genius no paceman was ever the equal of Wasim Akram who was the equivalent of a magician. Wasim was the ultimate champion amongst O.D.I. bowlers.In his peak Wasim could overpower every great bowler even in test cricket.The greatest batsmen like Lara found him the hardest to face.
Adam Gilchrist in his era was like the Viv Richards of his time making the impact of a bulldozer.Adam Gilchrist got ranking as he was the best match-winner of his time who simply pulverized the opposition holding the bat like a machine gun.Sehwag could bat like guns blazing and no opening batsmen wa s ever more destructive at his best or had such a penchant for making mammoth scores.Barry Richards did not play official test cricket but of what we saw of him in Packer cricket and first class cricket was more complete than any batsmen.In WSC supertests he even overshadowed Viv Richards in his best 2 innings,topping the averages overall.Kapil Dev deserves his due considering he bolwed on flat pancakes.On his day he could make as exposive an impact on the course of a game like even Sobers or Botham resembling a hurricane.He wa sthe best ODI all-rounder of them all.Rahul Dravid was grit and determination personified and like Steve Waugh the ultimate man for a crisis.One of the best one down batsmen of al time.Border and Steve Waugh had a great influence on the game as leaders and in their era were the ultimate batsmen to bat for your life.Rated Border higher because of the calibre of opposition he faced and his role in sowing the seeds for the renaissance in Australian cricket.Ranked Greg Chappell ahead of Ricky Ponting because he overall had marginally more class and faced stronger opponents.I ahve taken Greg's remarkable aggregate of 1416 runs at 56.14 in Kerry Packer WSC cricket.Neverthless statistically in his peak period Ponting was the best batsmen of the last 4 decades and master against pace.Inzmamam was the best batsmen as a pure match-winner who could be flamboyant even in a crisis and go on to turn and win games.Zaheer Abbas was the ultimate stylsit and the best attacking batsmen aginst spin and medium pace of his generation.Very close to being the best O.D.I.Batsmen of his era averaging over 47.Curtly Ambrose was close to the best ever match-winner in a 4th innings and the most accurate of al the genuine quickies .Hadlee and Mcgrath were fast-medim but posessed more control than any paceman ever.Mcgrath could have been the most intelligent bowler ever who could be as daunting to face in times as even Lillee or Marshall.Abdul Qadir on his day was as lethal as Warne and bowled the googly better than anyone.Andy Roberts was very similar to Dennis Lille with his great versatility while no paceman posessed more average speed through the air as Michael Holding.Dale Steyn is statistically around the greatest paceman but did not face calibre of opposition as earlier greats did.Garner wa sthe most accurate paceman of all with Ambrose who could bowl as fast as anyone on his day.Courtney Walsh was simpla a bowling metronome,the ultimate workhorse amongst pacemna.He could even be harder to face than Ambrose with his guile.Aravinda De'Silva was like a technician and artist rolled into one.Sangakaara was the ultimate run making machine of the last decade superbly blending technique with artistry.Cllive Lloyd gave West Indian cricket a new dimension knitting a bunch of talented individual sinto an invincible unit .He defined West Indian cricket to the degree Worrel,Sobesr and Richards did being ever-consistent as a batsmen.David Gower was the most elegant batsmen of them all.Graham Gooch was the ultimate master against great pace.Gordon Grenidge for a whil in the 1980's was the best batsmen in the world,overshadowing even Viv Richards wit his 2 double centuries in England in 1984.Lastly I put Asif Iqbal as he had a tremendous influence on the game ,becoming a great batsmen in the later 1970's.
No cricketer could at his best turn a game or intimidate opposition like Viv Richards who revealed the aura of a great emperor.Viv was the king amongst batsmen in O.D.I.cricket turning games more than Tendulkar or Lara.In peak era even in only test cricket Viv was the best of the last 50 years.He fell out only on consistency.Shane Warne did more to shape arguably the best team ever than any cricketer and won more matches than Imran or Viv.Above all he redefined the role of the leg-spinner in the game.Imran was the greatest leader of them all who defined nation's cricket or shaped it's fortunes both as a skipper and cricketer to reach the top of the pedestal more than anyone.Tendulkar defined his age more than any cricketer with longevity at the top more than any sportsman let alone cricketer.His phenomenal comeback after tennis elbow was taken into account.
Top 50 cricketers of last 40 years ranked in tentative order of merit.
1.Shane Warne
2.Sachin Tendulkar
3.Viv Richards
4.Imran Khan
5.Malcolm Marshall
6.Dennis Lillee
7.Muthiah Murlitharan
8.Brian Lara
9.Ian Botham
10.Jacques Kallis
11.Richard Hadlee
12.Wasim Akram
13.Glen Mcgrath
14.Adam Gilchrist
15.Sunil Gavaskar
16.Barry Richards
17.Greg Chappell
18.Ricky Ponting
19.Curtly Ambrose
20.Alan Border
21.Waqar Younus
22.Javed Miandad
23.Kumar Sangakaara
24.Kapil Dev
25.Steve Waugh
26.Rahul Dravid
27.Virendra Sehwag
28.Clive Lloyd
29.Dale Steyn.
30.Abdul Qadir
31.Andy Roberts
32.Joel Garner
33.Graham Gooch
34.Michael Holding
35.Gordon Greenidge.
36.David Gower
37.Martin Crowe
38.Inzamam Ul Haq.
39.Alan Donald
40.Aravinda De'Silva
41.Zaheer Abbas
42.Younus Khan
43.Andrew Flintoff
44.Shaun Pollock
45.Kevin Pieterson
46.Courtney Walsh
47.David Boon
48.Gundapa Vishwanath
49.Mark Waugh
50.Asif Iqbal
Ultimately gave the top positions to Warne,Tendulkar,Richards and Imran because they influenced the course of the game more than anyone.I would apologize if there is element of bias in terms of separating Tendulkar,Imran ,Warne and Viv .
Gave consideration to Warne's role in Australia becoming a superpower i world cricket and bringing back the role of the leg-spinner.Tendulkar's phenomenal longevity at the top was more than that of Viv and Imran who were ahead as pure match-winners.Viv intimdated oposition more than any cricketer,let alone batsmen .Imran shaped the destinny of his nation as a leader and cricketer more than anyone.Had Imran performed at his best with both bat and ball and had Pakistan been more dominant at the top of the pedestal he may well have been at no 1.
Very unfortunate to omit such names as Des Haynes,Alvin Kalicharan,Dilip Vengsarkar,Richie Richardson,Saed Anwar,Chris Cairns ,Anil Kumble,Mark Taylor,Geoff Boycott,Majid Khan etc.All could so easily have made it.Excluded Ian Chappell and Geoff Boycott as they made their major contribution before 1977.
