Players who changed cricket forever

Cricket is indeed an old game.It has been nearly 135 years since the first official test match between England and Australia was played. For nearly a century, only the longest format of the game existed, until the early 70’s when ODI cricket came into the picture. Not only did the format remain the same for a century, but the style of play was also nearly the same.There were no “power hitters”, nor were the fielders as enthusiastic or fit as they are today. But as the saying goes “The only thing that is permanent is change”. Just like Bjorn Borg introduced the idea of the “two handed backhand”, even in cricket there have been some players who have redefined even the basics of cricket and have inspired a whole new generation. Here are some of the players who contributed to the game’s good in their own way:

Batting: Till the 70’s, since five-day cricket being the only format of the game, there weren’t many players who could send chills to bowlers’ spines (there were some exceptions of course, like Sir Garfield Sobers). But then, a West Indian batsman, who never wore a helmet and chewed gum, came to the international cricket. Sir Vivian Richards, the real master blaster, showed how one could just demoralise a bowler with pure class and controlled aggression. No wonder he is widely regarded as one of the best batsman ever to play cricket. He has inspired many great players like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle, Adam Gilchrist and many more.

Bowling: 70’s and 80’s was a time when many quality fast bowlers played cricket. With the West Indian quickies, the pair of Jeff Thompson-Dennis Lillee and Imran Khan playing in the same era, it was the time wherein the definition of fast bowling was changed forever. Not only were they quick, but they could make the ball move dangerously even at speeds of 140 and 150. Some even said that Jeff Thompson could bowl at a speed of 180! Imran Khan was the inventor of reverse swing and the likes of Malcom Marshall and Michael Holding were a nightmare to face, even for great batsmen in that generation.These bowlers have been the inspiration for the likes of Wasim Akram, Brett Lee, Shoaib Akhtar etc.

Leg spin was a dying art by 90’s. With no spinner able to hold form for a long time, the art was in danger of extinction. Then came Shane Warne, the much-talented yet troubled Aussie, who is now widely considered as the greatest spinner of all time. His bowling was just pure magic. He used to get such a good amount of turn even on unresponsive pitches that batsman struggled to face him. He ended his glorious career as the second highest wicket taker in history, and also gave a life to leg spin bowling.

Fielding: It’s not that there weren’t any good fielders before him, but not many were as athletic or as excellent as Jonty Rhodes. His fielding abilites had no limits, with his famous “superman” runout of Inzamam-Ul-Haq still a famous memory. He is the idol of many talented fielders who play today like AB de Villiers, Yuvraj Singh, and Virat Kohli.