Cricket has been played for centuries. There have been many greatest cricketers in all these centuries, along with many excellent players. These players have set unbreakable milestones to inspire subsequent generations of cricketers. Some have the most runs, some have the most wickets, and some have the best cricket careers. They were all exceptional in their fields, holding significant records in cricket history and breaking records for their teams and themselves. They acted like an icon player and improved the status of their teams.
How Cricket Goats Helped Cricket?
Although their records may have differed, they all had some common characteristics.
- Even after retiring, the greatest cricketers of all time continue to enjoy huge passionate fans.
- They encouraged people to play cricket in their countries.
- These greatest cricketers promoted a soft image of cricket to the whole world.
- They had a very positive overall impact on cricket and helped its global expansion.
Now, we will explore the top 10 greatest players of all time in cricket.
Top 10 Best Cricketers of All the Time in History
1. Brian Lara
The West Indian batsman was famous for his stunning stroke play and ability to hit massive runs under pressure. He represented the West Indies team from 1990 to 1997 and is credited with restoring the golden era of West Indies cricket. He gave the West Indian team a new lineup that included Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
In all formats, Brian Lara has scored 22260 runs at an average of 46 with 53 centuries and 110 fifties.
Why is Brian Lara Called the Greatest Batsman?
How Brian Lara became the greatest of all time in cricket? Here we have some of his best records.
- Brian Lara has scored the highest individual runs in a test match. He hit 400 runs in innings versus England in 2004. At this point, his fans began to refer to him as the cricket goat.
- He scored the most centuries for West Indies (34) in test cricket for West Indies. Previously, this record was held by Garry Sobers (26), broken by Shiv Chanderpaul and Brian Lara.
- He scored the most runs in a calendar year in all formats in 1995. He hit 2028 runs in 27 matches at an average of 67.
- Brian Lara’s performance at the ODI World Cup 1996 was especially remarkable because he took the West Indian team to the semifinals.
- Brian Lara has 07 double centuries in test cricket to his name and is ranked at the number 03 position.
- He was the fastest batter to score 10000 runs in Test cricket, taking only 195 test matches.
2. Sir Garfield Sober
Sir Garfield Sober represented the West Indies from 1954 to 1974. He had many skills, as he was an excellent fielder, batter, and bowler. He was named the 1964 Wisden cricketer of the year as a result of his outstanding on-field performances.
In all formats of cricket, he scored 8032 runs at an average of 57 in 94 matches. Incredibly, Garfield Sober managed to score runs at a batting average of 57 during that time.
Why Sir Garfield is the Greatest Cricket in West Indies?
Sir Garfield Sober was the next legend that cricket was waiting for after Don Bradman.
- He was the seventh player in test cricket history to score a triple century in 1958. He scored 365* runs against Pakistan at Sabina Park, Kingston. This remained the highest individual score in test cricket till 1994, when his countrymate Brian Lara surpassed it by scoring 375 runs in an inning.
- His 365 runs against Pakistan was his maiden test century. This is another unique record of scoring a triple century as a maiden test century.
- He was the youngest player to score a triple century in test cricket. Previously, this record was held by Sir Don Bradman, who hit a triple century at 21 years 318 days. Sir Gary Sobers achieved this feat at 21 years and 213 days.
| Tripe Century | Age |
| Sir Garry Sobers | 21 Years 213 Days |
| Sir Don Bradman | 21 Years 318 Days |
- Sir Gary Sobers was the first player in international cricket history to score 8000 runs in test cricket. He was the fastest ever to reach the 8000 runs milestone. Sachin Tendulkar broke this record of the fastest to reach 8000 runs in 2002.
- He held the record for a leading run scorer in test cricket for 09 years and 275 days. He surpassed Colin Cowdrey’s 7549 runs in 1972 and held this record till 1981. Geof Boycott from England broke this record in 1981.
- Only Gary Sobers has taken 20 wickets and scored over 300 runs in a test series. He did this thrice in a test series for West Indies.
- Gary Sobers has the third-highest test batting average (57) as a captain. Sir Don Bradman (101) and Mahela Jayawardene are in 1st and 2nd position, respectively.
- Sir Gary Sobers has bowled the most number of balls as captain in test cricket. He bowled 10860 balls as a captain.
- He was the first batter to hit six sixes on six balls in a first-class
3. Wasim Akram
Wasim Akram is one of the greatest left-arm fast bowlers for his unusual skill of swinging the ball both ways. He caused a lot of batters trouble with his swinging balls, and nearly every batter in his era was afraid of him. He was a full-time bowler, but frequently his batting gave Pakistan the advantage. His career lasted from 1984 to 2003.
In all formats, he took 916 wickets in 460 matches with a bowling average of 27.
Read More: Wasim Akram Captaincy Record
Why Wasim Akram is the Greatest Fast Bowler in Pakistan?
Wasim achieved records and achievements that hardly any bowler will ever achieve in the future. Some of them are as follows;
- He has the most wickets taken by Lbw, Caught by Wicket keeper, and most wickets taken bowled.
| Type of Wickets Taken | Wickets |
| Lbw | 92 |
| Caught by WK | 93 |
| Bowled | 176 |
- He is one of the most successful left-arm bowlers in test cricket history. It seems unlikely that another Wasim Akram with the same swinging skills would arise.
- Wasim Akram was second best after Richard Hadlee to take the fastest 400 test wickets. He took 96 test matches, while Rihcard Hadlee took 80 matches.
- He was the first fast bowler to take 400 wickets in both ODI and Test cricket.
- He hit the most sixes in an inning of a test match versus Zimbabwe in 1996, which is still a record in test cricket.
- Wasim has his name among the top bowling records, such as most four wickets and five wickets hauls in Test and ODI cricket.
- He also has his name among the top cricketers with the most man-of-the-match awards in test and ODI cricket.
4. Sir Don Bradman
If you pay close attention to cricket, you are likely familiar with Sir Don Bradman. He was an Australian cricket legend who contributed to cricket development to the next level.
Every century in the history of cricket had its hero. W.G. Grace was a 19th-century hero and legend. Similarly, Sir Don Bradman was the 20th-century hero, and Sachin Tendulkar was the 21st-century hero.
Sir Don Bradman Th Greatest Players in Australia
Sir Don Bradman has many records and achievements to his name. Some of them are as follows;
- Because of his 99.94 batting average, the highest in test cricket, he is known as the greatest Test Batsman. This record set by Sir Don Bradman will never be surpassed despite the fantastic average number of new cricket players.
- He scored 974 runs in 05 match Ashes test series versus England in 1930. This is still the highest run scored by any player in the bilateral test series.
- He scored 810 runs in the 05 Ashes test match series in 1936/37. This is still the highest run achieved by any captain in test cricket history.
- He has the most double centuries to his name in Test cricket. He scored 12 double centuries in test cricket which is still a record in this era.
- He is the only batter in cricket history to score 06 consecutive test centuries. All six centuries were scored against England in 1937-38.
- He scored 270 runs at a batting position number 07 in 1936-37. This was one of the most successful innings of Sir Don Bradman that, lasted for 458 minutes.
Sir Don Bradman still has his name among the highest partnership makers in test cricket. He scored 405 runs in partnership for the 5th wicket with Sid Barnes in 1946-47. This is still the highest partnership for 5th wicket in test cricket.
5. Muttiah Muralitharan
Without mentioning Muttiah Muralitharan’s achievements, the golden period of cricket in Sri Lanka is incomplete. He was a guiding star who inspired a lot of youngsters to choose spin bowling. He could rightfully be said to as the father of off-spin bowling in cricket.
Why is Muttiah Muralitharan called the Greatest Spin Bowler?
He is called a goat because he has the most wickets in test and ODI cricket. His other achievements are as follows;
- He has the most player of the series awards, 11 in test cricket. He played for Sri Lanka in 61 test series and won 11 men of the series awards for Sri Lanka.
- He has the highest wickets on any Single ground in Test cricket. He took 166 wickets at Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo.
- He has bowled 63132 balls in all formats of international cricket. These are the highest number of balls bowled by any bowler in cricket history.
- He took ten wickets in a test match. He achieved this feat twice, in 2001 and 2006.
- He was an expert at taking wickets by stumps behind the wicket. He took 104 wickets behind the stumps in all formats.
- In test cricket, he is the fastest wicket-taker and achieved a lot of quick wicket milestones in a few innings.
| Fastest to 350 Test Wickets |
| Fastest to 400 Test Wickets |
| Fastest to 450 Test Wickets |
| Fastest to 500 Test Wickets |
| Fastest to 600 Test Wickets |
| Fastest to 700 Test Wickets |
| Fastest to 750 Test Wickets |
| Fastest to 800 Test Wickets |
Not only in Test cricket, he is also the fastest in ODI cricket to reach new milestones.
| Fastest to 450 ODI Wickets |
| Fastest to 500 ODI Wickets |
He has the number 01 position on the bowling dismissal list in all formats. He has taken the most wickets caught and the least wickets caught and bowled.
| Dismissals | Wickets (All Formats) |
| Most Wickets Taken Caught | 735 |
| Most Wickets Taken Bowled | 290 |
| Most Wickets Taken LBW | 216 |
| Most Wickets Taken Stumped | 104 |
| Most Wickets Taken Caught & Bowled | 70 |
6. Sachin Tendulkar
One of cricket’s all-time greatest players is Sachin Tendulkar. He took Indian cricket to new heights of glory. He was a shining star and a cricketing hero for India in the twenty-first century because he inspired millions of fans all over the world.
Why is Sachin Tendulkar called the God of Cricket?
In all formats, Sachin Tendulkar scored 34357 runs in 664 matches with 100 centuries and a batting average of 48.
- First Batsmen to Score Double Century in ODI
- First Batsmen to Score 10,000 Runs in ODI Cricket
- First Batsmen to Score 11000,12000,13000,14000,15000,16000,17000 & 18000 runs in ODI
- First Batsmen to Score 50 Test Hundreds
- First Batsmen to Score 100 International centuries (Most by Any Batter)
- First Batsmen to Score 09 Hundred in ODI Calendar year (1998)
- First Batsmen to Score More than 2000 fours in ODI Career
- First Batsmen to Score 15000 runs in Test cricket
- First Batsmen to Score Most ODI Runs in a Calendar Year (1998)
- First Batsmen to Score Most Man of the Series Awards (20)
- Fastest to Score 13000,14000,15000,16000,1700 and 18000 ODI Runs.
- Fastest to Score 13000,14000 and 15000 Test Runs.
- 1st Position Combined Record List (All Formats) Most Runs in Career (34357)
- 1st Position Combined Record List (All Formats) Most 100s in Career(100)
- 1st Position Combined Record List (All Formats) Most 100s in Calendar Year (12)
- 1st Position Combined Record List (All Formats) Most fifties in Career (264)
- 1st Position Combined Record List (All Formats) Most Fours in Career (4000+)
- 1st Position Combined Record List (All Formats) Most Matches in Career (664)
- 1st Position Combined Record List (All Formats) Most Man of the Match Awards (76)
- 1st Position Combined Record List (All Formats) Most Consecutive Matches for Indian Team (239)
- 1st Position Combined Record List (All Formats) Most Runs in ODI World Cup (2003).
Sachin Tendulkar is genuinely a goat of cricket. He has all records to his name. In every list of cricket records, you will find Sachin’s name on the list.
7. MS Dhoni
One of cricket’s greatest-ever wicketkeepers and the captain is MS Dhoni. He took Indian cricket to heights of excellence that no one could have ever imagined. He was one of the best finishers, wicketkeepers, and captains in the history of cricket. He is one of the most successful captains in cricket history, with multiple ICC trophies to his name.
Read More: MS Dhoni Captaincy Record
MS Dhoni the Greatest Wicket Keeper
MS Dhoni has achieved a lot in his career. Some of the achievements due to which he is called the greatest of all time are as follows;
- Sachin, Rahul, and Sourav Ganguly were the first three Indian batters respectively to achieve 10000 runs in ODI cricket. But who was the next on the list? It was MS Dhoni who achieved this feat.
- He was one of the greatest finishers in ODI history. One of the main reasons to achieve this feat is batting down the order at the number 06 position. His batting average at number 06 position is 56, which is the highest among other batters who batted at 06 positions in ODI.
- In ODI cricket, he scored two centuries at the number 07 batting position. Later, Michael Bracewell from New Zealand, who bats at position seven, scored two centuries, tying this record.
- He was the first Indian batter to hit 200 sixes in ODI cricket.
- As a regular Wicketkeeper batter, he has the highest Individual score of 183 to his name.
- He has the most stumps (195) in his career in all formats.
- MS Dhoni was the first wicketkeeper from India to take 300 ODI catches.
- Team India achieved the highest-ever test ranking, number 01, in 2009, under the leadership of MS Dhoni.
- MS Dhoni was the first-ever Indian Wicketkeeper to score more than 4000 runs in test cricket.
- He was the first T20 captain to achieve the highest wins (41) and most matches as a captain in T20I (72).
- Due to his superb performance, he was awarded ICC Player of the year in 2008 and 2009.
8. Jacques Kallis
Jacques Kallis is known as the best all-rounder in cricket history. He remained a key figure in the South African team from 1998 to 2012. His career lasted more than 15 years, and during that time, he achieved milestones that, traditionally, very few cricketers have done.
Jacques Kallis Greatest All Rounder in Cricket
He was the true gentleman that cricket had ever seen. Now, we will analyze why he is called a goat of cricket.
- He was the only player to score 12000 runs in international cricket and 500 wickets.
- Jacques Kallis is the only player to have won most player of the match awards. He has won 23 man-of-the-match awards in test cricket.
- Kallis is the only South African to score over 10000 Test, and ODI cricket runs.
- He was one of the best fielders at the slip position in test cricket. He ranked at number 03 on the list of the most catches in the test. He has taken more than 300 catches in international cricket.
- After Don Bradman, Muhammad Yousuf, and Gautam Gambhir, he is the only player to score a century in 5 consecutive test matches.
- He ranked number 05 on the list of the most runs in his career. He has scored 25334 runs in all formats.
- He hit 62 centuries in all formats and ranked at number 05 on the list of most centuries in all formats.
- He scored 103 fifties in his career and ranked at the number 02 position.
9. Imran Khan
Imran Khan was a sensation and an excellent cricketer who changed the nature of cricket in Pakistan. He began playing cricket as an extremely ordinary player and then made himself better by learning on his own. He was a master of the reverse swing during that time, and he began teaching Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis how to use it. His record as a captain was excellent, and others backed him in his managerial positions. He won the 1992 ODI World Cup for Pakistan as a result of this outcome.
Imran Khan Is the Greatest Captain Of Pakistan
Imran Khan has been considered the greatest cricketer of all time for the reasons listed below.
- Imran Khan was the first Pakistani bowler to ever get a batter out with the first ball of an ODI inning. He dismissed Ravi Shastri on “Duck” ” in 1985 at Sharjah. He took 05 wickets in that match and was announced as the player of the match.
- You might be surprised to learn that Imran’s batting and bowling averages at one point in his career became better than those of Viv Richards and Malcolm Marshall. Imran’s batting average from 1982 to 1990 was greater than Viv Richard’s 44. Similarly, his bowling average was 19.0, better than Malcolm Marshall’s19.6.
- Imran impacted Pakistani first-class cricket and English First Class cricket. He was awarded the cricket society award for his contribution as an allrounder in English First Class cricket.
- In 1984, he was awarded the player of the year award from his County club Sussex.
- Aging 35 and taking 07 wickets in a test inning, only Imran can do this. He took 07 wickets in an inning against West Indies in 1988.
- India vs Pakistan test series has been one of the best rival cricket series in history. Imran has always been in the headlines for his special knocks with the bat and bowl. In an Indo-Pak series in Pakistan, Imran claimed 40 wickets in the series. This is one of the best records in India-Pakistan cricket history.
- In Pakistani cricket history, Imran Khan has been the most successful captain. He is still remembered in Pakistani cricket history as an attacking captain, despite Misbah ul Haq breaking some of his captaincy records.
- He still holds the record for most player of the series awards for Pakistan. He has 10 players of the series awards in all formats for Pakistan. Babar Azam has a strong tendency to break these records set by Imran khan.
10. Sir Viv Richards
West Indian cricket has experienced its heights, and a lot of its heroes contributed to all those peaks. Sir Viv Richards was among those players who contributed to West Indian Cricket. Therefore, he was called the goat of cricket due to his cricket records for West Indies.
Why is Viv Richards Called the Best Batsman?
Sir Viv Richards is referred to as the most destructive batter for his unselfish contributions to the game.
- He was one of the most destructive batters of the 80s and changed the batting style of cricket. He introduces a lot of new batting techniques in cricket.
- Touching a batting average of 50 is one thing that was hard at that time. Only a few batters did so, and Viv Richards was one of them to have an ODI and Test batting average of 50.
- His role in ODI World Cup for West Indies was very impressive. He guided the West Indies team to win the 1975 and 1979 ODI World Cups.
- He was one of the best West Indian captains of that era. He never lost any test series in his captaincy period.
- He became the first test cricketer to score a hundred at a batting strike rate of 150. He achieved this feat in 1986. Scoring a century at such a fast pace was one of the newest things in test cricket at that time; Viv Richards pioneered this trend.
- He and Michael Holding have a record for scoring the highest-ever 10th-wicket partnership of 106 runs in an ODI.
- He was the first cricketer to score a fifty and took 05 wicket haul in the same ODI.
