The Marylebone Cricket Club is one of the most prestigious cricket clubs in the world. Founded in 1787, this club owns the iconic Lord’s cricket ground in London. At a point of time, this club was the governing body of cricket in England, Wales as well as worldwide. The MCC has a total of 18,000 full members and 6,000 associate members who have the right to use the Pavilion and all the other stands at Lord’s during cricket matches hosted by the ground.
Over the years many eminent cricketers have been made honorary life members of the club and a total of 24 Indian cricketers including the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Kapil Dev have been made honorary life members of the MCC. Most recently, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Anjum Chopra were made honorary life members of the MCC. There are a number of other Indian cricketers who have been excellent exponents of the game during their time and deserve to be made honorary life members of this prestigious club.
Here are five such cricketers.
#5 Javagal Srinath
Javagal Srinath is widely considered to be one of India’s greatest pacers of all-time and was a very lethal bowler during his playing days. Having made both his Test and ODI debut in 1991, Srinath had a very successful career with the national team, taking 236 Test wickets at an average of 30.49 and at an economy rate of 2.85. In ODIs, Srinath is the only Indian pacer to have taken more than 300 wickets, having bagged 315 wickets at an average of 28.08 and at an economy rate of 4.44.
Along with Zaheer Khan, Srinath is India’s joint highest wicket-taker in World Cups with 44 wickets across four tournaments in 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003. He helped the team reach the final of the 2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa after which he announced his retirement from international cricket.
Srinath was also a useful lower middle-order batsman with more than 1000 Test runs and nearly 900 ODI runs, having scored five half-centuries in both formats combined. Srinath was a regular in the national setup till his retirement and was one of the fastest bowlers of the world during his playing days. He formed a formidable bowling partnership with fellow pacer Venkatesh Prasad which became a match-winning duo for India for quite some time.
#4 Harbhajan Singh
During the 1990s, Anil Kumble was India’s premier spinner. However, during the early 2000s, Harbhajan Singh started giving Kumble a tough competition to be India’s leading spinner and soon became a regular in the team after his brilliant Man of the Series performance in India’s 2-1 Test series victory in 2001 against Australia. He finished the series with 32 wickets including a hat-trick at the famous Eden Gardens Test match which India won after avoiding follow-on.
Harbhajan has so far taken a total of 417 Test wickets at an economy rate of 2.84 and 269 ODI wickets at an economy rate of 4.31. He is also a pretty handy lower order batsman, having scored more than 2000 Test runs and 1000 ODI runs, including two back to back Test hundreds.
The “turbanator” was a crucial member of the teams that won the inaugural ICC World T20 in South Africa and the 2011 World Cup on home soil. Even though Harbhajan is not in the Indian cricket team at the moment, it cannot be denied that he is one of India’s best spinners and in his prime was one of the most feared spinners in the world.
#3 Yuvraj Singh
Yuvraj Singh is considered by many to be the best all-rounder India has produced since Kapil Dev. He made his debut at the 2000 Champions Trophy and played his first international innings against Australia where he scored a brilliant 84 to guide India to a memorable win over the dominant Aussies. A couple of years later, he formed a match-winning partnership with Mohammad Kaif in the NatWest Series final, scoring 69 to help India to a famous win over England by chasing a mammoth score of 326.
‘Yuvi’ as he is fondly known, played an important role in India’s inaugural World T20 win in 2007, hitting six sixes off Stuart Broad in an over in a Super 8 match against England and scoring a match-winning knock of 70 off just 30 deliveries against Australia in the semi-final.
However, his best performance with the Indian team came at the 2011 World Cup where he scored 362 runs with the bat at an average of 90.50 and took 15 wickets with the ball at an economy rate of 5.02.
He later went on to battle and win against cancer. After recovering from the life-threatening disease, Yuvi had an on and off stint with the national team and is currently out of the national setup after last appearing during the 2016 ICC World T20. However, there’s no need to say that the let hander has been one of India’s greatest ODI cricketers ever.
#2 Mahendra Singh Dhoni
India’s current limited overs skipper, MS Dhoni has perhaps the most extensive resume any cricketer could wish for. From winning every ICC trophy as a captain to being one of the best finishers of the game, Mahi is already a legend in his own right. He had a disastrous debut in 2004 against Bangladesh where he was run out for a duck but he soon redeemed himself by a series of brilliant performances and just three years into his cricketing career, was handed the captaincy of the Indian cricket team.
He led India to an unexpected victory at the 2007 ICC World T20 and later led them to victory at the VB series in Australian in 2008. However, “Captian Cool’s” finest hour with the national team came at the 2011 World Cup where he scored a match-winning 91 to take India to their first World Cup since 1983.
Two years later, he led India to victory at the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, thus becoming the only captain to win every major ICC trophy. In a Test career lasting nine years, MSD scored 4876 runs at an average of 38.09, hitting 33 fifties and six hundreds.
In ODIs, he has scored 8918 runs at an average of 51.25 with 60 half-centuries and nine centuries and in T20Is, has scored 910 runs at an average of 32.50. He has taken a total of 294 dismissals in tests, 346 dismissals in ODIs and 43 dismissals in T20Is. Truly, one of India’s greatest cricketers ever.
#1 VVS Laxman
One of India’s finest Test batsmen ever, VVS Laxman deserves to be an honorary member of the MCC. His languid batting style combined with his beautiful timing and footwork made him a pleasure to watch. Having made his Test debut in 1996, Laxman had an on and off time with the national team for the early part of his career.
However, he became a regular in the Test team following his sensational 281 against Australia at the Eden Gardens where he alongside Rahul Dravid, batted for an entire day to bring India back in the match from an innings down to eventually win the game.
A very reliable batsman during his playing days, a number of Laxman’s best performances came against Australia including his innings of 148 and 178 during the 2003-04 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In a Test career lasting nearly 16 years, Laxman scored 8781 Test runs at an average of almost 46, hitting 56 half-centuries and 17 centuries.
Compared to his Test career, his ODI career is subdued, having scored only 2338 runs at an average of 30.76 from 1998-2006. However, there’s no denying that India’s very very special player was a dominant batsman of his generation and deserves to be made a member of the MCC.
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