Do names like Virat Kholi, Shane Warne, and MS Dhoni ring a bell? Yes, and you likely have a soft spot for cricket.
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If you know a thing or two about cricket, you would agree that games are essentially decided by batsmen. Teams with formidable batsmen tend to run away with games.
But who are some of the greatest batsmen to grace the game of cricket?
Sachin Tendulkar (India)
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is a former Indian cricketer who plays as a Batsman. Born on 24 April 1973, and started playing at the age of 15 for the Indian National team and later captained the team. Tendulkar is one of the all-time best batsmen in cricket history.
His Test debut was against Pakistan in November 1989, and his ODI debut was a month later. Being the highest run-scorer in history, he had over 15921 and 18426 runs in Test and ODI, respectively. Further, he has the highest man-of-the-match awards in history and led the Indian cricket team to the 2011 Cricket World Cup triumph.
He is the only cricketer to score 100 centuries, 52 for tests and 49 for ODIs. Tendulkar has played 200 Test matches, 463 OD Is, 310 First Class, and 551 List A matches. Tendulkar was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2019.
Sir Donald Bradman (Australia)
Sir Donald George Bradman is one of the all-time greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He was born in August 1908 and died in February 2001.
“The Don”, as he was fondly called, played for the Australian national cricket team between 1928 and 1948 as a right-handed batsman.
Bradman played for New South Wales and South Australia domestic team’s between 1927 and 1949. He made his debut for Australia in a test match against England in November 1928.
With a 99.94, he holds the record for the best Test Batting average and scored 6996 runs in 52 Test games. Also, Bradman had 28067 runs in 234 First Class matches.
Further, he had the most double centuries (12), the Most runs in a day (309), and many other records still unbroken. Bradman was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009 as an inaugural member.
Sir Vivian Richards (West Indies)
Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards played for the West Indies national cricket team, who played as a Batman between 1974 and 1991. Nicknamed “Master Blaster” Richards was born on March 7, 1952, and is known for his aggressive and dominating batting style.
Meanwhile, his test debut was against India in November 1974, and his ODI debut was a year later, in June 1975, against Sri Lanka. He averaged a 66.51 batting average in 1976 and 1983 before his eye was operated on. In 121 test games, he had 8540 runs and scored 36212 in 507 First Class matches. Likewise, in 187 ODI and 500 List A games, he scored 6721 and 16995 runs, respectively.
Richards was inducted into the ICC Cricket hall of fame in 2009 and held the record of the best batsman to score a century at 150 strike rate in a test match. He also had the quickest test century (56 balls) in 1986.
Sir Jack Hobbs (England)
Sir John Berry Hobbs was an English cricketer born on 16 December 1882, and he played as a batsman. He is popularly called “The Master”, and he represented the English national cricket team between 1908 and 1930. He is widely called the greatest Batman of all time.
Before his test debut for England against Australia in 1908, he played for Surrey. With 61237 runs and 197 centuries, he has the highest number of runs and centuries in First Class cricket. Hobbs had an average of 56.94 Test average, scoring 5410 runs in 61 test matches.
Also, Hobbs had 15 centuries and 211 highest scores. He was Wisden’s Cricketer of the year twice, in 1909 and 1926. Hobbs scored 5410 in 61 test matches and has 316 top scores in First Class cricket.
Brian Lara (West Indies)
Brian Lara is a ruthless left-handed batsman who represented the West Indies national cricket team between 1990 and 2007. He was born on May 2nd, 1969, and is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He also holds many cricketing records.
He had his ODIs debut on 9th November 1990 against Pakistan, and his Test debut was a month later against Pakistan in December 1990. With 501, he has the highest first-class individual scores and has the only first-class quintuple-hundreds in history.
Lara scored 11,953 runs in 131 test matches and scored 10,405 runs in 299 ODIs. Similarly, he scored 22,156 and 14,602 runs in 261 first class and 429 List-A matches. He is one of the best batsmen to have played for the West Indies.
Sir Wally Hammond (England)
Walter Reginald Hammond played for the English national team as a batsman between 1920 and 1951. Born on 19 June 1903, Hammond started as an amateur cricketer and went on to captain the English national team.
He had his debut against South Africa in December 1927 and played 85 test matches scoring 7249 runs and 634 first-class matches with 50551 runs. Hammond has a test batting average of 58.45 and the highest scores of 366 in both first class and test matches.
His battling techniques were exceptional, and he held several records for a long period. He is regarded as one of the best cricket players of all time.
Conclusion
The cricket world has witnessed many great batsmen since its inception. We have discussed some of them in this post, but we still have some great batsmen like Jacques Kallies, Sir Garfield Sobers, and more. All of them have unique batting techniques that make them outstanding.
