Source: Quora ("Mayank Mishra")
Any game grows old due to revolutionary performances without changing the odour of its virginity or purity. In This list I'm compiling few names who did so and even some are still doing.
When cricket was born, it was just simple, A bat, a ball and a pitch. Bowlers throw the ball and batsmen had to swing the bat. JUST SIMPLE! Then Few rules were made; which yielded specific shots, drives and huge changes in batsmanship and bowling simultaneously ( Cuts, Pulls, cover drives, flicks AND for bowling point of view Outswingers, Inswingers, short pitched deliveries, yorkers ,spin etc)
Then Came the Most beautiful and pious Shot of the Game - " DEFENCE ".
More revolutions proportionate more technicalities. Like Era of Reverse Swing , doosra, carrom ball, googly, reverse sweep, switch hit and scoops etc.
Format changeover - Tests to 60 overs ODIs - 50 over ODIs- 40 overs county- T20.
Rules Amendments and new technologies made game more interesting, popular and wide.
That's why it will be inappropriate to mark any single man in this list. These all above lines I wrote just to justify my perception about this Question.
1. Jonty Rhodes - He proved that a fielder can win a game for his Team. An Inspiration for an Era now we can point out lots of 'rhodes' ;) . You can save lots of runs and put pressure on opposite team.
2. Sir VIV Richards - He showed how to hit Sixes, how to destroy opposition by ruthless and Audacious batting. Strike Rate of 84+ with 50+ average in Tests in the era when Average Run Rate of team was around 2.5 Runs per over, This stats undoubtedly tells his greatness.
3. Imran Khan- "A Captain can do anything " . I think that's enough to describe his impact. :)
4. Sunil Gavaskar- A perfect Definition book for batsmanship of game . 'Classical' that'll suit with his style.
5. Sir Richard Hadley / Kapil Dev - Two peach of the all rounders game has produced.
6. All the fast bowlers of Caribbean from 70-90 Era ( sorry for not pointing their Names, because the list is so long. ) They were nightmare for any batsman. Even it's impossible to count how many were injured by them.
7. Killer bowling pairs
a) Jeff Thomson / Dennis lillee
b) Courtney Walsh / Ambrose
c) Glenn McGrath / Brett Lee
d) Wasim Akram / Waqar younus / Shoaib Akhtar
e) Dale styen / Morne Morkel
f) James Anderson/ Stuart Broad
8. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar - The GOD ( Technically mix of sunil gavaskar and Viv Richards). Most Elegant I've ever seen
9. Brian Charles LARA- Impeccable , Stylish, Heroic (nightmare for Aussies)
10. Kumar Sangakkara - Full of Class and Passion.
11. Jacques Kallis- He is definition of "complete Cricket".
12. Rahul Dravid- Determined, dedicated and extreme of concentration. Exactly 'the WALL'
13. Ricky Ponting - His stats as a batsman are being shadowed under his captaincy stats. I would also want to mention a process here - Australians shows us how this game is played. They define aggression. They define competition. All the aussies cricketers can take a pride for this.
14. Shane Warne / MurliDharan / Anil Kumble - Spin Bowling with all the possible variations! " Combo Pack"
15. Virender Sehwag - Redefined role of an Opener
16. Adam Gilchrist - Should I say something? Isn't his name enough. Flying Gilly ;)
17. MS Dhoni / Lance Klusener/ Michael Bevan- Calm compose Finishers .
18. Sanath jayasuriya - ICC copied his game :D i.e. He started Power play Concept . He used to hit above the infield fielders early in the innings.
18. AB De Villiers - With his name the term Cricket ends. He is Just "WOW".
PS: A Lot of Names are left though, this list names start from Late 70s. Game is a process, a path, so it's difficult to remember all the milestones of the path .
And I want to Justify this list with a thought " If a rock is broken with 100th stroke, then all the strokes from 1 to 100 are responsible for the result.
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