The Most Famous

CRICKETERS from India

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This page contains a list of the greatest Indian Cricketers. The pantheon dataset contains 136 Cricketers, 33 of which were born in India. This makes India the birth place of the most number of Cricketers.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Indian Cricketers of all time. This list of famous Indian Cricketers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Indian Cricketers.

Photo of Sachin Tendulkar

1. Sachin Tendulkar (b. 1973)

With an HPI of 48.00, Sachin Tendulkar is the most famous Indian Cricketer.  His biography has been translated into 68 different languages on wikipedia.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar ( ; pronounced [sətɕin teːɳɖulkəɾ]; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. Hailed as the world's most prolific batsman of all time, he is the all-time highest run-scorer in both ODI and Test cricket with more than 18,000 runs and 15,000 runs, respectively. He also holds the record for receiving the most player of the match awards in international cricket. Tendulkar was a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha by presidential nomination from 2012 to 2018. Tendulkar took up cricket at the age of eleven, made his Test match debut on 15 November 1989 against Pakistan in Karachi at the age of sixteen, and went on to represent Mumbai domestically and India internationally for over 24 years. In 2002, halfway through his career, Wisden ranked him the second-greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Don Bradman, and the second-greatest ODI batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards. The same year, Tendulkar was a part of the team that was one of the joint-winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy. Later in his career, Tendulkar was part of the Indian team that won the 2011 Cricket World Cup, his first win in six World Cup appearances for India. He had previously been named "Player of the Tournament" at the 2003 World Cup. Tendulkar has received several awards from the government of India: the Arjuna Award (1994), the Khel Ratna Award (1997), the Padma Shri (1998), and the Padma Vibhushan (2008). After Tendulkar played his last match in November 2013, the Prime Minister's Office announced the decision to award him the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award. He was the first sportsperson to receive the award and, as of 2024, is the youngest recipient. In 2010, Time included Tendulkar in its annual list of the most influential people in the world. Tendulkar was awarded the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for cricketer of the year at the 2010 International Cricket Council (ICC) Awards. Having retired from ODI cricket in 2012, he retired from all forms of cricket in November 2013 after playing his 200th Test match. Tendulkar played 664 international cricket matches in total, scoring 34,357 runs. In 2013, Tendulkar was included in an all-time Test World XI to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, and he was the only specialist batsman of the post–World War II era, along with Viv Richards, to get featured in the team. In 2019, he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Photo of Sunil Gavaskar

2. Sunil Gavaskar (b. 1949)

With an HPI of 44.80, Sunil Gavaskar is the 2nd most famous Indian Cricketer.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: [suniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ]; born 10 July 1949), is a former captain of the Indian national cricket team who represented India and Mumbai from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the greatest opening batsmen of all time. Gavaskar was widely admired for his technique against fast bowling, with a particularly high average of 65.45 against the West Indies, who possessed a four-pronged fast bowling attack, widely regarded as the most vicious in Test history. However, most of Gavaskar's centuries against West Indies were against the team when their four-pronged attack were not playing together. His captaincy of the Indian team, was considered as one of the first attacking ones, with Indian team winning the 1984 Asia Cup, and the World Championship of Cricket in 1985. At the same time, there were multiple exchanges of captaincy between Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, with one coming just six months before Kapil led India to victory at the 1983 Cricket World Cup. He is also a former Sheriff of Mumbai. Gavaskar is a recipient of the Indian sports honour of the Arjuna Award and the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan. He was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2012, he was awarded the C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honour BCCI can bestow on a former player. Gavaskar is popular called Sunny [1] by his fans and fellow cricket commentators.

Photo of Kapil Dev

3. Kapil Dev (b. 1959)

With an HPI of 43.77, Kapil Dev is the 3rd most famous Indian Cricketer.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Kapil Dev Nikhanj (pronunciation: [kəpil deːʋ] born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer. He is regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders in the history of cricket, he was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman. Dev is the only player in the history of cricket to have taken more than 400 wickets (434 wickets) and scored more than 5,000 runs in Test cricket. Dev captained the Indian cricket team that won the 1983 Cricket World Cup, becoming the first Indian captain to win the Cricket World Cup. He is still the youngest captain (at the age of 24) to win the World Cup for any team. He retired in 1994, as the first player to take 200 ODI wickets, and holding the world record for the highest number of wickets taken in Test cricket, a record subsequently broken by Courtney Walsh in 2000. Kapil Dev held the record for the highest individual score (175*) scored by a batsman batting at number 5 or lower in ODIs until 2023, when it was superseded by Glenn Maxwell. He was also a part of the Indian squad which won the 1985 World Championship of Cricket. After retiring, he coached the Indian national team between September 1999 and September 2000. In 1982, Dev was awarded the Padma Shri, and in 1991 the Padma Bhushan. In 2002, he was named by Wisden as the Indian Cricketer of the Century. On 11 March 2010, Dev was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. In 2013, he received the C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honour conferred by BCCI on a former player.

Photo of Virat Kohli

4. Virat Kohli (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 42.88, Virat Kohli is the 4th most famous Indian Cricketer.  His biography has been translated into 51 different languages.

Virat Kohli (Hindi pronunciation: [ʋɪˈɾɑːʈ ˈkoːɦli] ; born 5 November 1988) is an Indian international cricketer who plays Test and ODI cricket for the Indian national team. A former captain in all formats of the game, Kohli retired from the T20I format following India's win at the 2024 T20 World Cup. He's a right-handed batsman and an occasional unorthodox right arm quick bowler. Kohli holds the highest IPL run-scorer record, ranks third in T20I, third in ODI, and stands the fourth-highest in international cricket. Regarded as one of the greatest batsman of all time, he also holds the record for scoring the most centuries in ODI cricket and is second in the list of most international centuries scored in international cricket. Kohli was a member of the Indian team that won the 2008 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2013 Champions Trophy and 2024 T20 World Cup and also captained India to win the ICC Test mace three consecutive times in 2017, 2018, and 2019. He represents Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League and Delhi in domestic cricket. In 2013, Kohli was ranked number one in the ODI batsmen ICC rankings. In 2015, he also achieved the same for T20I rankings. In 2018, he was ranked the top Test batsman, making him the only Indian cricketer to hold the number one spot in all three formats. He is the first player to score 20,000 runs in a decade. In 2020, the ICC named him the male cricketer of the decade. Kohli has garnered 10 ICC Awards making him the most awarded player in International Cricket history. He won the ICC ODI Player of the Year award four times in 2012, 2017, 2018, and 2023. He also won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy, given to the ICC Cricketer of the Year, on two occasions, in 2017 and 2018 respectively. In 2018, he became the first player to win both ICC ODI and Test Player of the Year awards in the same year. Also, he was named the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for three consecutive years, from 2016 to 2018. Kohli has the most Player of the Series awards and second most Player of the Match awards to his name in all three formats combined. He was honoured with the Arjuna Award in 2013, the Padma Shri in 2017, and India's highest sporting honour, the Khel Ratna Award, in 2018. In 2018, Time magazine included him on its list of the 100 most influential people in the world. After winning the 2024 T20 World Cup and the Player of the Match in the Final, Kohli announced his retirement from T20Is.

Photo of MS Dhoni

5. MS Dhoni (b. 1981)

With an HPI of 41.25, MS Dhoni is the 5th most famous Indian Cricketer.  His biography has been translated into 39 different languages.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni ( ; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian professional cricketer who plays as a right-handed batter and a wicket-keeper. Widely regarded as one of the most prolific wicket-keeper batsmen and captains, he represented the Indian cricket team and was the captain of the side in limited overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in test cricket from 2008 to 2014. Dhoni has captained the most international matches and is the most successful Indian captain. He has led India to victory in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, the 2011 Cricket World Cup, and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, being the only captain to win three different limited overs ICC tournaments. He also led the teams that won the Asia Cup in 2010, 2016 and was a member of the title winning squad in 2018. Born in Ranchi, Dhoni made his first class debut for Bihar in 1999. He made his debut for the Indian cricket team on 23 December 2004 in an ODI against Bangladesh and played his first test a year later against Sri Lanka. In 2007, he became the captain of the ODI side before taking over in all formats by 2008. Dhoni retired from test cricket in 2014 but continued playing in limited overs cricket till 2019. He has scored 17,266 runs in international cricket including 10,000 plus runs at an average of more than 50 in ODIs. In the Indian Premier League (IPL), Dhoni plays for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), leading them to the final on ten occasions and winning it five times (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023). He has also led CSK to two Champions League T20 titles in 2010 and 2014. Dhoni is amongst the few batsmen to have scored more than five thousand runs in the IPL, as well as being the first wicketkeeper to do so. In 2008, Dhoni was awarded India's highest sport honor Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award by Government of India. He received the fourth highest civilian award Padma Shri in 2009 and third highest civilian award Padma Bhushan in 2018. Dhoni holds an honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Parachute Regiment of the Indian Territorial Army which was presented to him by the Indian Army in 2011. He is one of the most popular cricketers in the world.

Photo of Bishan Singh Bedi

6. Bishan Singh Bedi (1946 - 2023)

With an HPI of 40.51, Bishan Singh Bedi is the 6th most famous Indian Cricketer.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Bishan Singh Bedi (25 September 1946 – 23 October 2023) was an Indian cricketer who was primarily a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. He played Test cricket for India from 1966 to 1979 and formed part of the famous Indian spin quartet. He played a total of 67 Tests and took 266 wickets. He also captained the national side in 22 Test matches. Bedi wore a colourful patka and was always known for his outspoken and forthright views on cricketing matters. He was awarded the Padma Shri award in 1970 and the C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.

Photo of Ravindra Jadeja

7. Ravindra Jadeja (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 38.58, Ravindra Jadeja is the 7th most famous Indian Cricketer.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Ravindrasinh Anirudhsinh Jadeja (born 6 December 1988) is an Indian international cricketer who represents the Indian national cricket team in ODI and Test formats. He is an all-rounder, who bats left-handed and bowls left-arm orthodox spin. He is regarded as one of the best all-rounders of his generation, becoming the fifth Indian and fifth-fastest player to score 2,000 runs and take 200 wickets in Test cricket in 2021. Jadeja was the leading wicket-taker in the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy and received the man of the match award as a member of the final-winning team. Later in his career, he was also a part of the team which won the 2024 T20 World Cup, after which he announced his retirement from the T20Is. He represents Saurashtra in first-class cricket and has captained the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League. As of August 2023, Ravindra Jadeja is the 7th highest ODI wicket taker for India with 220 wickets. Jadeja was vice-captain of the Indian U-19 cricket team that won the World Cup in Malaysia in 2008, under the captaincy of former Indian captain Virat Kohli. He made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka on 8 February 2009 and scored an unbeaten 60 off 77 balls in that match. However, his Test debut came almost four years later, on 13 December 2012, against England at Nagpur. Jadeja was bought for $2 million by the Chennai Super Kings at the 2012 IPL Players Auction. He was bought by the Gujarat Lions in the 2016 IPL Players Auction for ₹9.5 crores after the Chennai Super Kings were banned from the IPL for two seasons. On 22 January 2017, Jadeja became the first Indian left-arm spinner to take 150 One Day International wickets, when he dismissed Sam Billings at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. In March 2017, he became the top ranked bowler in the world leaving behind Ravichandran Ashwin who held that position for a long time. He was announced as captain of the Chennai Super Kings IPL franchise, for the 2022 IPL season, succeeding MS Dhoni. He however stepped down in the middle of the season.

Photo of Rahul Dravid

8. Rahul Dravid (b. 1973)

With an HPI of 37.48, Rahul Dravid is the 8th most famous Indian Cricketer.  His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Rahul Sharad Dravid ( ; born 11 January 1973) is a former cricket player, ex-captain and ex-coach of the Indian national cricket team. Known for his outstanding batting technique, Dravid scored 24,177 runs in international cricket and is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is colloquially known as Mr. Dependable and often referred to as The Wall. He won the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy as a member of the Indian team and guided the Indian team to victory in the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup as the head coach. Prior to his appointment to the senior men's national team, Dravid was the Head of Cricket at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), and the head coach of the India Under-19 and India A teams. Under his tutelage, the Under-19 team finished as runners-up at the 2016 U-19 Cricket World Cup and won the 2018 U-19 Cricket World Cup. Under his coaching, Indian cricket team finished as runners-up at the 2023 Cricket World Cup and 2023 ICC World Test Championship final and were semifinalist at the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. Born in a Marathi family and raised in Bangalore, he started playing cricket at the age of 12 and later represented Karnataka at the under-15, under-17 and under-19 levels. Dravid was named one of the best five cricketers of the year by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2000 and received the Player of the Year and the Test Player of the Year awards at the inaugural ICC awards ceremony in 2004. In December 2011, he became the first non-Australian cricketer to deliver the Bradman Oration in Canberra. As of January 2022, Dravid is the fourth-highest run scorer in Test cricket, after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis. In 2004, upon scoring a century against Bangladesh in Chittagong, he became the first player to score a century in all the ten Test-playing countries (now 12). As of October 2012, he holds the record for the most catches taken by a player (non-wicket-keeper) in Test cricket, at 210. Dravid holds a unique record of never getting out for a golden duck in the 286 Test innings that he has played during his career. He has faced 31,258 balls, which is the largest number of balls faced by any player in test cricket. He has also spent 44,152 minutes at the crease, which is the highest time spent on the crease by any player in test cricket. Dravid and Tendulkar hold the highest scoring partnership in Test cricket history, having scored 6,920 runs combined while batting together for India. In August 2011, after receiving a surprise recall during the ODI series against England, Dravid declared his retirement from ODIs as well as Twenty20 International (T20I), and in March 2012, he announced his retirement from international and first-class cricket. He appeared at the 2012 Indian Premier League as captain of the Rajasthan Royals. Rahul Dravid, along with Glenn McGrath, were honoured during the seventh annual Bradman Awards function in Sydney on 1 November 2012. Dravid has also been awarded the Padma Shri (2004) and the Padma Bhushan (2013), India's fourth and third highest civilian awards respectively. In 2014, Rahul Dravid joined the GoSports Foundation as a member of their board of advisors. In collaboration with GoSports Foundation, he is mentoring India's future Olympians and Paralympians as part of the Rahul Dravid Athlete Mentorship Program. Indian badmintonist Prannoy Kumar, para-swimmer Sharath Gayakwad and golfer S. Chikkarangappa were part of the initial group of athletes that were mentored by Rahul Dravid. In July 2018, Dravid became the fifth Indian cricketer to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.

Photo of Sourav Ganguly

9. Sourav Ganguly (b. 1972)

With an HPI of 37.15, Sourav Ganguly is the 9th most famous Indian Cricketer.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Sourav Chandidas Ganguly ( ; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), also known as Dada (meaning "elder brother" in Bengali), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer. He is popularly called the Maharaja of Indian Cricket. He was captain of the Indian national cricket team and is regarded as one of India's most successful cricket captains. As captain, he led Indian national team to win the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy and reach the final of the 2003 Cricket World Cup, the 2000 ICC Champions Trophy and the 2004 Asia Cup. Ganguly scored 11363 runs in his ODI career which stands at ninth position in the world for most runs scored in ODI matches. He was the third batsman to cross the 10,000 runs in One day cricket, after Sachin Tendulkar and Inzamam Ul Haq. He holds the record for highest score in an innings (183) by an Indian batsman in the ODI Cricket World Cup. In 2002, the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ranked him the sixth greatest ODI batsman of all time. He announced his retirement from international cricket in 2008 and from all forms of cricket in 2012. Ganguly was awarded the fourth highest Indian civilian award, Padma Shri in 2004. He was elected as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2019. He is also a part of the Supreme Court of India appointed probe panel for the IPL Spot fixing and betting scandal's investigations.

Photo of Anil Kumble

10. Anil Kumble (b. 1970)

With an HPI of 35.45, Anil Kumble is the 10th most famous Indian Cricketer.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Anil Kumble (; born 17 October 1970) is an Indian former cricket player, coach and commentator who played Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. Widely regarded as one of the best leg spinners and one of the greatest bowlers in Test Cricket History, he took 619 wickets in Test cricket and was the third highest wicket taker of all time at the time of his retirement in 2008. In 1999 while playing against Pakistan, Kumble dismissed all ten batsmen in a Test match innings, joining England's Jim Laker as the second player to achieve the feat. Unlike his contemporaries, Kumble was not a big turner of the ball, but relied primarily on pace, bounce, and accuracy. He was nicknamed "Apple" and "Jumbo". Kumble was selected as the Cricketer of the Year in 1993 Indian Cricket, and one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year three years later. Kumble was a member of the Indian team that was one of the joint-winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, which the title was also shared with Sri Lanka. Born in Bangalore, Mysore State (now Karnataka), Kumble developed an early interest in cricket as he grew up watching players like B. S. Chandrasekhar before becoming a full-fledged cricketer. He made his First-class debut at the age of 19 while representing Karnataka. Soon he was picked up for the Austral-Asia Cup in 1990 before making his Test debut against England later that year. Since then he has represented the Indian Test team on more than 132 Test matches and was responsible for many of India's victories. Kumble became a part of the regular ODI team during the early 1990s and held some of the best performances during this time; which included his six for 12 (six wickets for 12 runs) against the West Indies. The year 1996 proved to very successful for him as he was selected for the World Cup and emerged as the most successful bowler of the tournament; he played seven matches and captured 15 wickets at an average of 18.73. Kumble was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour in 2005. After having played for 18 years, he announced his retirement from international cricket in November 2008. In October 2012, Kumble was appointed the chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC)'s cricket committee. Between 2012 and 2015, Kumble held positions as a chief mentor for the teams Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. He was also a former head coach of the Indian cricket team as well. In February 2015, he became the fourth Indian cricketer to be inducted into ICC Hall of Fame. Kumble is currently the head coach and the director of cricket operations of Punjab Kings.

People

Pantheon has 44 people classified as Indian cricketers born between 1946 and 1999. Of these 44, 43 (97.73%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Indian cricketers include Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, and Kapil Dev. The most famous deceased Indian cricketers include Bishan Singh Bedi. As of April 2024, 11 new Indian cricketers have been added to Pantheon including Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, and Kuldeep Yadav.

Living Indian Cricketers

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Deceased Indian Cricketers

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Newly Added Indian Cricketers (2024)

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