5 Most Influential Cricketers of All Time

[ankitj]

Yeah, he's the most celebrated Indian cricketer of the last two decades for a reason. He's the best one. But imagine if instead of Tendulkar, it was Lara who'd played for India. Do you imagine him being worshipped any less? The public wouldve been just as insane for BCL.

When I think of influential cricketers, I think of guys who influenced the game as a whole. Imran made reverse swing a big big weapon after Sarfraz first really introduced it, Saqlain brought in the doosra, Worrell broke the race barrier and became captain, Jardine's captaincy led to big changes in the rulebook. Tendulkar was a great batsman and a popular bloke, that's about it imo. Not really influential in the strictest sense of the word.

Yup. I think Lara would've been similarly diefied and for same reasons - he is every bit the master that Tendulkar was. Sure, he didn't achieve a few things that Tendulkar did, but equally Lara achieved few things that Tendulkar couldn't.

I am not arguing for his influence but that not just anybody who was the best cricketer in that period in India would've had the same fan following.

 

[fredfertang]

Lest there be any doubt I wasn't seeking to suggest that SRT was anything other than a genius, and that he has influenced many things - the reason I made my comment was because he hasn't changed the way the game is played

 

[dogwalker]

Hansie Cronje.

Popularised the monobrow, the leather jacket as incentive/disincentive and the devil's-dead-bat aka the "satan made me do it" defense.

 

[fredfertang]

..... and, of course, Sachin was his bunny

 

[Coronis]

Jonty Rhodes, fielding.

 

[cnerd123]

Let me attempt this seriously...

John Wisden - For Wisden and all it has brought. May not have influenced how cricket has been played, but has heavily influenced how it has been reported on.
John Willes - Started the round-arm bowling revolution, which lead to over-arm bowling and cricket as we know it today.
WG Grace - The first cricketing superstar.
Don Bradman - Raised the bar for batsmen (and cricketers in general), was the reason behind Bodyline
Murali - The change in the chucking laws and all the research/debate/flame wars that have followed have been inspired by him.

Would like to give special mention to:

- The early pioneers of reverse swing (Like Sarfraz Nawaz)
- Peter May, Colin Cowdrey, Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine for the dual between them in 1957 that led to amendments of the LBW law (May not seem significant, but they discovered a game-breaking ploy that needed to be addressed, much like Bodyline did)
- Batsmen who innovated new shots and styles of play (Ranji for the flick off the legs, guys like Victor Trumper and Gilbert Jessop for their attacking style of play)
- Saqlain Mushtaq for the Doosra and Bernard Bosanquet for the Googly
- All the cricketers associated with Kerry Packer - Coloured Clothing, Day-night games, the way cricket is broadcast...massive influence on how the game is played and followed, even if not in the technical sense.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Lance Cairns
Bishen Bedi
Albert Padmore
John Parker
Vincent Van der Bijl

 

[nightprowler10]

Bart King. Pioneered swing bowling.

 

[cnerd123]

Reading through this thread some other good candidates pop up

George Headly/Frank Worrell (First Black captain/First regular Black captain+Uniting together the Caribbean nations for the WI team)
Learie Constantine (For helping to break down race barriers in the West Indies and UK both as a cricketer and as a politician afterwards, plus his electric fielding was extraordinary for the time)
Jardine/Larwood (For their role in Bodyline)
Bart King (For his role in developing the art of swing bowling)
Lillee (as the first 'complete' fast bowler)
Qadir/Warne (For showing what legspin was capable of, and then for making it ***y)
Gilly (Forever changing the way we see Wicketkeer/Batsmen)
MS Dhoni/Joginder Sharma/Misbah Ul Haq/Sreesanth (Hello IPL)