3 iconic players who changed cricket forever

#1 Sir Viv Richards

Sir Viv Richards

When Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards arrived at the crease, everybody dropped whatever they were doing and watched with eager anticipation. He arrived into the middle with his elegant walk, rotated his arms around for a bit, adjusted his cap and got himself to dominate the bowler.

Often cited as the greatest and the most devastating batsman to have walked the planet, Richards was truly a maestro who completely changed the art of batting. During his peak, he played every shot that existed in the books aside from inventing some himself.

Richards destroyed almost every bowler that ever stepped onto the cricket field. Such was his menace that bowlers would never sledge him because of his hunger for grabbing the challenges by its collar. The only competition, in terms of bowlers he ever got, came from the legendary Dennis Lillee and the mercurial Bhagwat Chandrashekar.

In his glorious career, Richards scored 8540 Test runs at an average of 50.23. At a time when other players took a whole day to reach three figures, he once scored a Test century off just 56 balls. There is absolutely no doubt that if he were playing in this era, some IPL franchises would even write a blank cheque to get his services.

Many legendary batsmen have credited Sir Viv to be their idol growing up and Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara are few of those names.

Richards never wore a helmet in his entire career. He was always seen in his iconic pose - wearing his glorious maroon cap and chewing gum before enthralling the spectators.