3 Sachin Tendulkar
Total Points: 525
Highest Pick: 1st
2011 Ranking: 2nd
Tendulkar took his first short, confident strides to the middle as a 16-year-old in 1989 and for the next 22 years or so it felt like he scarcely left the middle. Throughout, he retained his boyish appearance, exacerbated by his oversized pads and railway sleeper of a bat that he swung with a precision that matched his footwork. The right-hander was technically adroit, unerringly patient, wholeheartedly ruthless and perhaps more than anything, possessed an insatiable appetite for scoring runs. He did that better, and more regularly, than anyone to have played ODI cricket, as the 4000-plus gap he has on his nearest rival on the 'most ODI runs' list attests. He fell one short of an astonishing 50 ODI centuries and capped off his career with a World Cup triumph on home soil in 2011.
Main Memory: First batsman to score an ODI 200.
2 Wasim Akram
Total Points: 530
Highest Pick: 2nd
2011 Ranking: 3rd
Perhaps the greatest left-arm fast bowler to grace a cricket field, Wasim Akram revolutionised pace bowling and mastered the mystical art of reverse swing. In a career that spanned almost 19 years, Wasim was the first player to 500 ODI wickets and no quick has taken more scalps than the Lion of Lahore. Possessing a quick arm-action and a wrist like a whip, Wasim was devastating in the middle of his career – taking 198 wickets in 131 matches from 1992 to 1997. In combination with fellow swing prodigy Waqar Younis there was no better new-ball pair as Pakistan won the '92 World Cup then stampeded to the '99 final. Wasim remarkably played under 13 different captains, but was never more effective than under his own leadership; in 109 matches at the helm, he claimed 158 wickets at 22.63, slightly better than his overall career record, and led Pakistan to 66 wins. Above all the numbers and records, Wasim was the most feared white-ball quick of his generation, and perhaps the best ever.
Main Memory: Man of the match performance in the 1992 World Cup Final
1 Viv Richards
Total Points: 666
Highest Pick: 1st
2011 Ranking: 1st
It was serendipitous that Viv Richards and ODI cricket came along at a similar time, because it feels like one was made for the other. The West Indies had only played two ODIs before Richards debuted in the format at the 1975 World Cup, and truth be told, he had an ordinary tournament, despite his famous three run-outs in the Windies' final triumph over Australia. It was in 1976 that he found his feet in the format, and never looked back. By the end of the decade, he'd set the benchmark for ODI batting, inspired by his own natural aggression to hit harder and score faster than anyone who'd come before him. A match-winning century in the 1979 final earned him a second World Cup trophy, while an unbeaten 153 from 130 balls against Australia at the MCG was another instant classic. In the 1980s, 'The Master Blaster' dominated, motoring along at a strike-rate of 90 while every other batsman tried – and failed – to keep up.
Main Memory: His swagger. Also, his amazing 189*.
Still cant wait for the best/worst removed analysis, Nuffers. Think that list might be more definitive.
