10 players who revolutionised limited overs cricket through innovations

Cricket as a game has evolved a lot over the years. The modern-day bowlers and batsmen were forced to come up with innovative strategies to take their game to the next level. They were made to invent new things.

A lot of innovative shots evolved along with a lot of variations from the bowlers. Ramp shots, switch hits, doosra, carrom ball etc made the limited overs game more interesting than ever before.

Here are 10 players who revolutionised the LOI game with innovations.

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#10 Saqlain Mushtaq

Doosra is a type of delivery used by off-spinners in cricket. The doosra spins in the opposite direction to an off-break.

This delivery was brought into the limelight by the Pakistani spinner Saqlain Mushtaq. It is bowled from the back of the hand with a lot of top-spin with no change in action or wrist posting, making it a very difficult delivery for batsmen to pick.

Bowlers like Muttiah Muralitharan, Harbhajan Singh, Johan Botha and many others used the delivery but Murali came the closest in terms of success. It was one of the toughest deliveries to bowl and many bowlers found it hard to deliver it within the rules of the game.

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#9 Sachin Tendulkar

Thought not invented by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, he was the one who made it famous and mastered the uppercut

He used it successfully against the blistering pace of Shoaib Akhtar in the 2003 World Cup game at Durban. He did the same to Brett Lee in Perth. Considering the pace of the two bowlers, it needs an amazing skill to play that shot.

Virender Sehwag mastered it too and played it numerous times in his career. He uppercut Waqar Younis for a stunning six during the 2003 World Cup. He played it a little different than Sachin Tendulkar, but equally effective.

#8 Zaheer Khan

The knuckle-ball is a bowling technique adopted from baseball. Some bowlers hold it at the fingertip while others hold it with the surface of their fingernails.

Zaheer Khan mastered that art of bowling knuckle-balls. He used it for the first time in the 2011 World Cup when he cleaned up Michael Hussey in India's quarter-finals win over Australia. After that, he started using the knuckleball frequently in ODIs and T20s.

The deceiving aspect of Zaheer Khan's knuckle-ball was that his arm speed did not change at all and the seam position remained intact. He foxed many top batsmen in the world with his knuckle deliveries.

After Zaheer, Andrew Tye master the art. He used it in Indian Premier League 2017 and in Big Bash League 2016/17 with great success. Tye has an excellent control of the delivery and it helps him pick up a lot of wickets.

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#7 Tillakaratne Dilshan

The Dilscoop was developed by Sri Lankan right-handed batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan. The shot is all about going on one knee to a good length delivery off a medium pacer and 'scoop' the ball over the wicket keeper's head.

In New Zealand, it is called a McScoop because of Brendon McCullum's extensive use of the shot. He is one player in the world who plays it as good as Dilshan.

Considering the risk involved in the shot, most batsmen don't attempt it. But the demand for the modern-day game makes it worth the risk. No captain will ever set a field for this kind of shot and Dilshan used it to his advantage. He scored a lot of runs with his scoop and bewildered some of the best fast bowlers in the world.

#6 Ajantha Mendis

Carrom ball is a type of delivery used by spin bowlers. Ajantha Mendis exhibited this delivery during the Asia Cup in 2008. The ball is released by flicking it between the thumb and a bent middle finger. The ball could turn either way based on how the bowler grips the ball.

Mendis achieved a lot of success early in his career with this delivery. He was deadly and flummoxed many of the best batsmen in the world, picking up a lot of wickets. He demolished India in a 2008 test series when he picked up 26 wickets in a 3 tests series.

Batsmen worked out his mystery and his career did not flourish as expected.

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#5 Kevin Pietersen

The switch hit is a modern-day shot where batsmen change his stance (left-hander to a right-hander and vice versa) and grip to play it. This is a lot different from the reverse sweep where batsman does not change his grip or stance.

Kevin Pietersen played it for the first time against Muttiah Muralitharan. He was very successful with it and used it as a weapon in his arsenal against the slow bowlers. David Warner is another exponent of the shot and he demolished Ashwin once with his switch hit in IPL.

This shot generated a lot of debate as some supported it as an outstanding skill while others arguing that it gives an unfair advantage to the batsmen.

#4 Douglas Marillier

Marillier introduced the shot in 2002 against India when he used the ramp shot constantly against Zaheer Khan to win the game for Zimbabwe.

He used it successfully once again against the legendary Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath in Australia. He scored a lot of runs with that shot as bowlers were clueless against his movement and technique.

Cricket was mostly conventional and orthodox until that moment and Douglas Marrilier's invention revolutionized the game completely. The seed he planted, paved the way for many innovative shots in cricket over the next 15 years.

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#3 Shaun Pollock

In the mid 90's, when Shaun Pollock got into his 30s, his pace dropped and the batsmen were able to play his normal bouncers easily. He then invented the slow ball bouncer to deceive the batsmen.

It was bowled without any change in action but the ball reached the batsman slower than expected. It was a tough delivery to play because batsmen have to put in all their strength into the shot.

After Pollock, Broad and Malinga mastered the delivery and used it to devastating effect. With batsmen dominating the limited overs format, a slow ball bouncer is a weapon that every bowler loves to have in is arsenal.

#2 Lasith Malinga

Facing a fast inswinging yorker is a batsman's nightmare. But there is something in cricket worse than that. Slow ball yorker is one of the toughest deliveries to bowl and to play in modern day cricket. None does it better than the man who invented it, Lasith Malinga. He used the slow ball yorkers to brilliant effect in ODIs and T20s.

He is one of the best limited-overs bowlers because of his ability to bowl these type of deliveries. These yorkers are unplayable early in the innings and tough even for a settled batsman.

He deceives it so perfectly that the batsman will know it only at the last second. The ball will dip on the batsman which makes it a lethal delivery to face. Malinga took a lot of wickets with his slow ball yorkers and has dismissed some of the best batsmen in the world.

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#1 Mahendra Singh Dhoni

MS Dhoni played the Helicopter shot for the first time during an ODI game against England in 2006. It derived its name from the way it was played. The bat swing resembles the rotation of helicopter wings.

The crowd was stunned in Goa when he played that shot to James Anderson when he hammered a full-length delivery for a six.

This shot requires a strong pair of wrists and the body weight goes in the opposite direction of the shot making it a tough shot to master. Batsmen like Shehzad and Cutting tried the shot but none could do it successfully on a consistent basis like MSD.