India may be a powerhouse today, but it wasn’t always like that. For years, the men’s national team just couldn’t make it on the big stage. As soon as that changed, India’s cricket power was unleashed.
In the past couple of decades, there have been plenty of cricketers from India that are true legends of the sport. Legends such as MS Dhoni, for example. Being the most popular sport in India and the IPL being the best cricket league in the world, it’s safe to say that cricket is to India what football is to England or Brazil.
Children are introduced to it at an early age, and the success of players such as Tendulkar, Dhoni, or Kohli is what drives them to become cricket superstars. You’ll find Virat Kohli a regular at Sportsbet cricket when it comes to individual markets, showing you how far Indian cricketers have come.
MS Dhoni
A prolific batsmen and wicket-keeper, MS Dhoni is true cricket rockstar in India. During his tenure as a captain, India won in limited-overs format in 2007 and 2017, while also dominating Test Cricket between 2008 and 2014.
He’s responsible for delivering the country’s premier ICC World Twenty20 trophy in 2007, and the 2011 ICC World Cup. Dhoni is widely regarded as the best cricket players of all time, not just in India.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
In 2012, he was named the 12th most marketable athlete in the world. Forbes also ranked him on the list of highest paid athletes in 2015, which is a true testament of his greatness. He’s been successful both on and off the field, co-owning Indian Super League team Chennaiyin FC.
Virat Kohli
The current captain of the Indian national team may go down in the books as the greatest Indian cricketeer ever. It helps that Kohli is still only 32, so he has a long way to go and break more records. He’s widely considered the best modern batsmen in the world. He’s the captain of IPL’s Royal Challengers Bangalore, although he’s yet to replicate his success with the national team at club level.
Kohli is a master for T20 matches and the best player on India’s team. He has the second-highest number of centuries in ODIs and holds the world record for fastest batsmen in different runs. With estimated earnings of over $26 million in 2020, he’s also one of the best paid athletes in the world. A true legend.
Sachin Tendulkar
In India, Tendulkar is known as the God of Cricket. He had more than one fantastic performances during his career, and still holds records that may never be broken. For example, he’s the highest run scorer in international cricket and the only one to have scored 100 international centuries. How’s that for a record?
Of course, that’s only a fraction of what he’s done for India’s national cricket. For his efforts, he was rightfully inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2019. Tendulkar is a true legend of the sport that can be considered the don of cricket.
Rahul Dravid
No best Indian cricket player list would be complete without the appearance of The Wall. Nicknamed like that by Indian cricket fans, he’s one of the most dependable players in Indian cricket history. He’s one of the highest run scorers in the history of the sport, which is an achievement that speaks for itself.
Dravid had a stellar player’s career and is quite successful as a coach too. Under his guidance, the under-19 India national team squad won the U-19 Cricket World Cup in 2019 and finished runner-ups 3 years before.