10 greatest cricketers from Mumbai

Mumbai has always been a famous breeding ground for cricketers. Right since the Indian Cricket team started playing the game at international level, there have been a number of players from Mumbai who represented the country.

The city has many open grounds to let the youngsters play their favourite game. It also has a number of cricket academies and gymkhanas to groom the budding cricketers. The city is also famous for its narrow lanes between the crowded buildings. Thanks to these narrow lanes, many Mumbai batsmen have gone to become some of the best straight drivers in the game.

So, out of its innumerable cricketers, let's look at 10 of the best to have played for the country.

---

#10 Ajinkya Rahane

The Indian Test team's vice captain is one of the most technically sound batsmen in the current Indian batting lot. In fact, captain Virat Kohli even regarded him, along with Pujara, as team's best test batsmen. Rahane made his first-class debut in 2007–08 season and averaged an impressive 62.04 after 100 innings.

He played a crucial role in Mumbai lifting its 38th Ranji title during the year 2008-09. After consistent performances in the domestic circuits, he got picked for the national side. Since then, Rahane has consistently repaid the faith the selectors have shown in him.

After failing in his debut match, he played some brilliant knocks on India's tour of South Africa in 2013-14. Facing the likes of Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander on the South African pitches is no joke for any batsman. But Rahane fared pretty well in this series. He has scored centuries in the challenging conditions of England and Australia during 2014-15 tours.

Rahane has scored more than 2500 runs in both tests and ODIs. He also has a stellar average of 48.14 in the whites.

#9 Rohit Sharma

Currently, Rohit Sharma is perhaps the most stylish batsman in the game

The hitman, as he's popularly known, is one of the most gifted batsmen in the world. He is elegance personified and makes batting look effortlessly easy. He just oozes talent.

Rohit Sharma made his List A debut for West Zone against Central Zone in the Deodhar Trophy in March 2005. It was his unbeaten innings of 142 off 123 balls against North Zone in the same tournament that proved to be the stepping stone for him.

Sharma made his international debut at an early age of 20 and quickly rose up the ranks.

He is is the only batsman to have two double centuries in ODIs to his credit. The MI captain also holds the record for highest individual ODI score of 264. He is even among the top 5 run getters in the IPL.This talented batsman is one player on whom the Indian team's future relies heavily on.

Rohit Sharma has scored 1184 runs in 20 tests at an average of 37 whereas in ODIs, he amassed 5435 runs in 152 innings at an average of 42.5.

The right hander also possesses an impressive strike rate of 130 in T20Is.

#8 Ajit Agarkar

Ajit Agarkar was one of India's finest right arm pacers

Ajit Agarkar was a fine right arm pacer who could swing the ball at decent pace. He is India's third highest wicket-taker in ODIs and made many match winning contributions. Agarkar was capable of playing some handy knocks with the bat as well. In fact, he even has a test hundred to his credit.

In domestic cricket, he grew to become one of Mumbai's most potent weapons in bowling. One of his notable performances in the domestic cricket came in the 2009-10 Ranji trophy finals against Karnataka in which he took 5 wickets in the second innings, ensuring a narrow win for Mumbai. He also captained Mumbai to the Ranji title in 2013.

In his international career, he held the record for being the quickest to take 50 wickets in ODIs. This record, after many years, was broken by Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka. He played 26 Tests and 191 ODIs for India scalping 58 and 288 wickets in each format respectively.

#7 Polly Umrigar

Polly Umrigar was one of Indian team's stalwarts in his era

Polly Umrigar is another famous cricketer from Mumbai. A middle-order batsman by profession, Umrigar even bowled occasional medium pacers. He even captained the Indian team in eight test matches.

Umrigar represented Bombay in 243 first class games. He went to score as many as 16,155 runs in his first class career at a staggering average of 52.28. These runs comprised of as many as 49 centuries and 80 half centuries. His superb performances in many unofficial tournaments brought him to national reckoning.

Umrigar was a successful batsman of his era, scoring 12 centuries in Test matches. He was a strongly built batsman who was especially strong in front of the wicket. Umrigar also scored the first double century by an Indian in Test cricket against New Zealand in Hyderabad.

He represented India in 59 Tests and ended up scoring 3631 runs at an average of 42.22.

#6 Ajit Wadekar

Ajit Wadekar was one of India batting line up's mainstays during the 70s

Wadekar was one of the finest batsmen to have played for India during the 1960s and 1970s. He was a top order batsman and a brilliant slip fielder.

Ajit Wadekar made his first class debut in 1958. The left handed batsman played 237 first class matches and scored 15,380 runs at a high average of 47. He also has 46 first class centuries to his credit.

Wadekar captained the Indian team to famous series victories against England and West Indies. The Government of India honoured him with the Arjuna Award (1967) and Padma Shri (1972), India's fourth highest civilian honour. Famous players such as Sunil Gavaskar, Farokh Engineer, Bishen Sigh Bedi, etc blossomed under his captaincy.

Wadekar represented India in 37 Test matches and completed a successful career by scoring over 2000 runs.

#5 Dilip Vengsarkar

Dilip Vengsarkar is one of the country's most famous batsmen

Dilip Vengsarkar is one of the finest batsmen to come from Mumbai. He, along with Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath, formed the batting core of the Indian team in the late 70s and 80s. In fact, he was even rated as world's best batsman; a ranking which he held on for 21 months in a row.

Vengsarkar represented Bombay in 260 First class games. He scored 17,868 runs that consisted of 55 centuries.

He scored as many as three centuries at the Lord's, thereby making the only visiting batsman to do so. In an era where helmets were not used by the batsmen, he scored many runs against the brutal Windies pace attack. Vengsarkar was awarded the Arjuna award in 1981 and Padma Shri in 1987.

He played 116 Test matches and amassed 6868 runs at 42.13. He also represented India in 129 ODIs and scored 3508 runs at an average of 35.

Post retirement, Vengsarkar got into Cricket administration and served various posts.

#4 Vijay Merchant

"Let us paint him white and take him with us to Australia as an opener"

Vijay Merchant is a widely popular name in the cricketing circles. In his limited international appearances, he made a name for himself.

His first class average of 71.64 is the second best in the game's history, only behind that of the great Sir Don Bradman. He played 150 first class games for the Bombay cricket team and scored 13470 runs studded with 45 centuries.

Merchant's batting was known for sound technique, gritty temperament and conservative approach. Players all across the globe were impressed with his batting skill. In fact, English cricketer CB Fry exclaimed: "Let us paint him white and take him with us to Australia as an opener."

In his 10 outings for India, he made 859 runs at a decent average of 47.72.

As a tribute to Vijay Merchant, there's even a stand in the Wankhede stadium that's named after him.

#3 Ravi Shastri

Ravi Shastri was a genuine all-rounder who helped the team's cause

Ravi Shastri is certainly one of India's finest all-rounders. The current Indian coach started his career as a left arm spin bowler and later transformed into a batting all-rounder.

At 17 years and 292 days, he was then the youngest cricketer to play for Mumbai. Shastri set a record for Bombay against Baroda in a West Zone Ranji match. His first hundred came up in 72 minutes and 80 balls that had included nine fours and four sixes.

The second took just 41 minutes and 43 balls. His 123 ball 200* became the fastest double hundred in first class history, beating the previous record by 7 minutes, and included 13 fours and 13 sixes.

He made many crucial match winning contributions in the 1983 World Cup. The Mumbaikar was also elected as the Champion of Champions in World Championship of Cricket in Australia in 1985. Shastri enjoys the credit of being the first Indian batsman to have hit six sixes in an over.

Apart from his cricketing heroics, he's famous for his flamboyant commentary.

Shastry played 80 Tests and 150 ODIs for India. He scored over 6500 runs and took 280 wickets in both Tests and ODIs put together.

#2 Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar is one of the greatest batsmen of all time

The first batsman in the history of the game to amass 10,000 Test runs. Sunil Gavaskar was India's best batsman before the emergence of Sachin Tendulkar.

Gavaskar represented Bombay in 348 First Class matches and scored a mind boggling number of runs. He scored 25834 runs at an average of 51.46 that consisted 81 centuries.He was named as India's best schoolboy cricketer of the year in 1966. His consistent performances for Bombay earned him a national call-up.

Technically a very sound batsman, Gavaskar seemed to have an answer to challenges posed by any bowler in any conditions. He went to score as many as 34 Test centuries during his career; a record that stood intact for many years after his retirement (it was broken by Sachin Tendulkar). This batting stalwart is one of India's, if not the best, opening batsman and is currently voicing his opinion on the game as a commentator.

Suni Gavaskar played 125 Test matches and 108 ODIs for India. He scored 10122 runs in Test matches at an average of 51.12.

#1 Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar is arguably the greatest batsman to have played the game

No horses for guessing who the first player on this list would be. It's a name that needs no introduction; the God of Cricket- Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. He is the highest run getter in the history of the game. The only player to have played 200 Test matches and scored a hundred centuries.

Born and brought up in Mumbai, Sachin went on to become arguably the best batsman this game has ever seen. He played 310 first class games for Mumbai and made 25,396 runs that included 81 centuries.

On 11 December 1988, aged just 15 years and 232 days, Tendulkar made his debut for Bombay and scored 100 not out in that match, making him the youngest Indian to score a century on debut in first-class cricket. He was handpicked to play for the team by the then Bombay captain Dilip Vengsarkar after watching him easily negotiating India's best fast bowler at the time, Kapil Dev, in the Wankhede Stadium nets, where the Indian team had come to play against the touring New Zealand team.

Be it Shane Warne, or Shoaib Akhtar, or Muralitharan, or even Brett Lee. the master blaster has mauled the bowlers all over the world and left them with nightmares. He single-handedly carried the hopes of an entire nation for more than two glorious decades.