Top 10 cricketing rivalries of all time

India v Australia X
A blockbuster rivalry

Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo. Bjorn Borg vs John McEnroe. Muhammad Ali vs Ken Norton. The individual rivalries in a sport take centre stage and help glorify the event for years to come. Cricket has seen its fair share of rivalries encapsulating the audiences and making the game spicier than it already is.

Be it a batsman dominating his rival by smashing him all over the field or a spinner creating a web around the batsman, individual rivalries have taken the game a notch higher. In this segment, we will take a look at the top 10 rivalries that made headlines everytime the players in focus went head to head:


#10 Sachin Tendulkar vs Glenn McGrath

Though the rivalry between Tendulkar and Warne has often been discussed at lengths, it is a known fact that the master blaster mostly had an upper hand against the Australian leggie. The same cannot be said for Tendulkar's battles with Glenn McGrath.

Tendulkar often gave McGrath the respect he deserved and never took unnecessary risks against him in test cricket. McGrath played 9 tests against Tendulkar and got him out 4 times with the Indian technician averaging just 22.16 against him in tests. In the 2001 test series, Tendulkar changed his guard to middle stump and was out LBW on a couple of occasions to his nemesis, the four-ball plan to get Tendulkar out in Kolkata being a memorable incident.

Though the limited overs arena was a different scenario for Tendulkar where he dominated against McGrath, his dismissal against the bowler in the 2003 World Cup final to a short ball still remains fresh in memory.

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#9 Wahab Riaz vs Shane Watson

Australia v Pakistan: Quarter Final - 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup
Best spell bowled in the 2015 World Cup

Most of the rivalries take years to establish for it to be remembered vividly by the people. But when a ferocious bowler bowls a spell of his life in a World Cup quarterfinal against a determined Australian it surely can be included in one of the best rivalries in recent times.

Adelaide witnessed a fine battle between Shane Watson and Wahab Riaz in the 2015 World Cup. Pakistan batted first and during Riaz's time in the middle, Watson made his stay at the crease a time to forget. Riaz must have been itching to have a go at the all-rounder and when he finally got the opportunity, Riaz did make it count.

Riaz's spell after the 10th over to Watson was one of the best moments in the 2015 World Cup. The first ball that Watson faced was an unplayable bouncer which clocked 148.6 kph. Watson was huffing and puffing at the crease, closing his eyes at some and getting hit on his ribs for few. Riaz was truly bowling one peach of a delivery after the other.

But credit to Watson, for guarding his wicket against the Riaz thunderstorm and guiding his side to victory. The rivalry was renewed in the Pakistan Super League where Riaz finally got the better of the all-rounder.

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How did Watson survive this onslaught?

#8 Imran Khan vs Sunil Gavaskar

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Khan celebrating Gavaskar's wicket

This was a rivalry which was shared on many grounds by both the individuals. Not only did Imran and Gavaskar lead their sides for a number of years, they were the best players from their land and were an institution in themselves. And when the two pioneers of cricket went against one another, sparks were bound to be created on the cricket field.

Imran was the pick of the bowlers in an era where the likes of Jeff Thompson and Michael Holding were dominating the scene whereas Gavaskar was India's sole hope against the foreign giants. When these two clashed, it always proved to be a treat for the spectators.

Imran did trouble Gavaskar on a number of occasions and got him out several times in the 1982 series. The all-rounder was particularly dominant against the Indian opener in Sharjah. But Imran always rated Gavaskar as one of the best in the business and a few years back, called him a better batsman than Sachin Tendulkar.

#7 Brian Lara vs Glenn McGrath

Adam Gilchrist of Australia stands up to the stumps as team mate Glenn McGrath bowls
McGrath dismissed Lara 18 times in all formats

On one side, there was the classy and the charismatic Brian Charles Lara and on the other, a disciplined bowler like the game had never seen before. This was a rivalry which was destined to be remembered for the sheer class present on both sides of the wicket.

In the 1999 test series in West Indies, Lara played a number of swashbuckling innings and assaulted the Australian bowlers including McGrath. His match-winning score of 153 at Barbados and then an 82 ball hundred had tilted this duel in the favour of the southpaw.

But McGrath redeemed himself by getting him out once in the final test of the series and also bowled him out cheaply in the 1999 World Cup. McGrath dismissed Lara an astonishing 18 times in his playing career (Test and ODIs) and can be said as the dominant force in this famous rivalry.

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A bouncer, a fight and then a reply!

#6 Sir Viv Richards vs Jeff Thomson

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Terrifying pace vs brute power

In an era when the batsmen were known for showing grit and their solid defences, Sir Viv Richards used to enter with a smile and smack them out of the park with relative ease. In every sense, Richards was the first T20 batsman in the history of world cricket. He was simply brutal.

One of Richards' toughest competitors was Australia's, Jeff Thomson. His unique action along with his ability to hit the deck hard made him one of the most fearful players in the 1980s. He was also the fastest bowler of that generation, regularly clocking over 95 mph.

In the 1975 series, Thomson and Lille were proving to be unplayable for the Windies batters, barring one. Thomson was bowling as fast as he ever had in that series, bowling stunning bouncers along the way. But Richards not only survived, he went on the front foot and smacked him for a boundary after boundary. Richards also tore Thomson apart in the 1983 World Cup and remains one of his most memorable knocks.

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A Sir Viv Classic.

#5 Kevin Pietersen vs Mitchell Johnson

Australia v England - Fourth Test: Day 3
Two firebrand cricketers loved playing against one another

Impactful and firebrand personality. These are the things that are usually associated with Kevin Pietersen and Mitchell Johnson. Ashes are known for its rivalries and this decade saw the emergence of a fine cricketing showdown between KP and Mitch Johnson.

It all started in the 2010-11 Ashes in Australia where the Poms ran the Aussies ragged and reclaimed the urn in fine fashion with Pietersen playing a crucial role. He scored a double hundred in Adelaide and was dismissed by Johnson just once in that series. But this was the just the beginning of this famous battle.

Johnson destroyed England in the 2013/14 Ashes and Pietersen was one of the many batters that were made a bunny by the left arm pacer. It was Johnson all the way which helped Australia win against England for the first time in five years. That series had a number of altercations between Johnson and Pietersen but ultimately the Moustache Mitch of 2013/14 won this duel and the series hands down.

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#4 Sachin Tendulkar vs Shoaib Akhtar

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What a duel!

For a decade or so, the India vs Pakistan rivalry was also known as the Sachin - Shoaib battle. Both the countries had their heartbeats stopped whenever Shoaib Akhtar was breathing fire against the enigma that was Sachin Tendulkar. It was not for the faint-hearted!

It all started when Akhtar uprooted Tendulkar's middle stump at the Eden Gardens which gave birth to a cricketing masterclass between the two. Indian fans make a case of Sachin's onslaught against Shoaib Akhtar in the 2003 World Cup where the Rawalpindi Express famously declined to bowl to Tendulkar after getting hit in his first spell. Also, during his 194* knock at Multan, Tendulkar decimated Akhtar to all parts of the ground.

On the other hand, Akhtar also has some fine Tendulkar dismissals to his name. Be it the unplayable delivery at Kolkata in 1999 or the lightning bolt of a ball in 2006 at Faisalabad. Pakistan's speed express also got the better of Tendulkar a number of times in the 2004 ODI series. All in all, a pace merchant bowling to one of the best in the business did become a sight to behold for a number of years.

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A memorable battle.

#3 Brian Lara vs Muttiah Muralitharan

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Lara was one of the very few batters that asserted himself against Murali

It is believed that there are only two batsmen who outplayed Muttiah Muralitharan in his elite test career. One was England's Graham Thorpe and the other was Brian Lara. After a monumental series against Australia in 1999, Lara had a dip in his form where his average fell below 50 and he was started getting criticism from all corners.

Then came the Sri Lanka tour of 2001. Lara scored three hundreds in that series and the way he played, sorry, annihilated being a more apt word, Muralitharan in that series made his status even more legendary in the game. Murali was in the peak of his powers back then but against Lara, arguably the most effective player ever against spin bowling, he was often found ineffective.

Darren Ganga, Lara's teammate on that tour later revealed that the southpaw had researched on the Lankan extensively and even called Lara's batting in that series as his most remarkable feat. The batsman himself conceded that playing against Murali was one of the toughest tasks of his career and during the first hour or so against the spinner, he usually had no idea how to deal with his deadly abilities with a cricket ball.

The Lankan dismissed Lara five times in his career but the southpaw averaged a commendable 56.80 against him. Murali had a test career to savour which also included dismissing Sachin Tendulkar 13 times but the smiling assassin will always have one regret of not dominating against a certain Trinidadian.

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A classic knock.

#2 Sir Don Bradman vs Harold Larwood

Bradman Batting
Bradman was troubled on numerous occasions by Harold Larwood

The 1932-33 Ashes series gave the sport a new word - Bodyline. A bowling technique that caused such an uproar which even led to tensions between the political relations between the two countries. Visualized by Leonard Jardine, it was Harold Larwood who spearheaded the English attack against Don Bradman's Australia.

It is believed that the technique was initiated to trouble Bradman and England did manage to taste success in it. Larwood posed great questions to the legendary batter and according to many was the reason behind a number of Bradman's failures as a batsman.

Larwood's pace troubled Bradman and even before that series which became known for all the wrong reasons, the English pacer was considered by many as Bradman's toughest opponent. The pacer had to retire after that fateful Bodyline series but was etched in the memory of many as the only bowler to put fear into the minds of Sir Don Bradman.

#1 Sachin Tendulkar vs Shane Warne

Cricket All-Stars Series - Dodger Stadium
Two geniuses

Since Sachin Tendulkar hit THAT six against Abdul Qadir in Pakistan and since Shane Warne dismissed Mike Gatting with THE ball of the century, it was a known fact that these two will rule the rooster for the coming decades. And they certainly did! Also, when these two personalities clashed against one another, it was a sight like any witnessed before.

The master batsman who can bat gracefully on a minefield against a shrewd spinner who could turn a leather ball on a cement track. But as luck would have it, no other batsman dominated Shane Warne as Sachin Tendulkar did. Be it the Operation Sandstorm of Sharjah or that test match in Chennai where Tendulkar displayed a batting master class on how to play spin.

Particularly in limited overs, Tendulkar owned Warne in any part of the world. He averaged precisely 100.00 against Warne in colour clothing. The man gave nightmares to Warne and his continued dominance over the leg-spinner led the great Aussie showman to dismiss Tendulkar just 4 times in 29 international matches.

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Edited by Tanya Rudra