The review showcases only those players who are currently playing One day cricket and it is truly accepted that certain players would have been surely missed in this review as I seriously feel that there is nothing called as a perfect review till date and its more of a perception than anything else.
“Cricket is religion and Sachin is God”, sums up the feeling of a normal Indian and me being an Indian would always rate Sir. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar ** as the first priority to rate in the top 10 one day batsmen and I just wonder as to how many times anyone would have ever written about this man and how many awards he might have won till date. I don’t know the number seriously!
1. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar No doubt the numero uno of One day cricket and his consistency and immaculate eye and footwork still amazes the bowlers and forms huge psychological boost for the Indian team and after 15 years of International cricket and over 36 centuries and over 13000 runs old. This run getting machine just seems to go on, on and on.
2. Brian Charles Lara Again, naam hi kaafi hai! This man has the aura of someone out there in the field to decimate the opposition out of the game completely. His greatest assets are his quick footwork and good eye coordination which works to his benefit most of the times. Though he does not have any notable contributions in terms of scores as he does it in Test cricket but the sheer presence of this man in the middle gives the bowlers to give their best and try to stop him.
3.Sanath Jayasuriya Totally unconventional, if you would have asked to give one word to this man, this is what everyone would have told but then let us not forget the exploits of this man with his bat. Right from his official entry into the world scene in the 96 world cup he has ruled the world with his batting and his timing is the most important part of his batting and his blade just seems to swish swosh the balls to places where no one could ever see someone hitting. Frankly speaking I have never seen anyone hitting sixes at square, covers, fine leg and even square leg. These are places where you would “normally” see him playing his shots. Though he is very restrictive these days but the fire is still in him and he has the ability to take the game away from any opposition on his day.
4. Jacques Kallis In terms of consistency and class, he is always stands apart; I mean he is someone whom you can always bank when the team is in dire straits. He is very useful to the team even as a medium pacer and contributes with the bat too which is what every cricketer dreams of and here you have someone to emulate and agreed that Sanath and even Sachin do bowl in limited overs.
5. Ricky ponting what more can I say of players of his class and aura. Ricky is a player of big matches and who can forget the world cup final 03 where he outclassed the Indian attack and made mincemeat of it. His footwork and the way he takes control of the bowling right from the onset is amazing and he gets accustomed to the game so well and settles faster and never plays any unorthodox shot and plays text book shots to perfection.
6. Inzimam Ul- Haq another exciting player from the subcontinent who is capable of staying there till the end and ensuring that the team does well and after taking over the captaincy has improved considerably. Though running between the tickets still remains an area of concern for the “burly multan”. He paces his innings very well which is what is needed in a One day game and in the slog overs which is an essential requirement in a one day game.
7.Shoaib Malik I know that I have raised many eyebrows with this name but then he is a sure shot hot property when it comes to attacking batting which he has shown in the recent tournaments that were held which saw him batting extremely well under conditions that were hostile for batting.
8.Andrew Flintoff Big Big name, believe me, I have always felt him as a true all rounder the moment he came onto the international scene 3 years back. This Lancashire all rounder has matured immensely and seems to be improving with every passing game which is what One Day cricket is all about today. What the crowd wants today is purely entertainment and this big man delivers it every time he goes on to bat and what more do you require?
9.Adam Gilchrist Christ man, this guy never seems to stop playing his shots. Amazing ball eye coordination and risk taking ability makes him play shots which not many would play. The terrific pulls and ferocious cuts are a true treat to watch, though the fielder would cursing himself every time he goes to pick the red cherry.
10. Rahul dravid last but in no means the least, this man from Bangalore was deemed unfit for one day batting and he came back with a vengeance and today commands respect from the world over and has been more successful than many big names that has been mentioned in the review and such is the aura of this man and his boyish smile.
It is agreed that 10 batsmen can in no ways include all top players and I seriously feel sad about it but then its just that we can have 10 class batsmen in this review.