cricket, a favourite sport for millions of lives on this planet. A bat-and-ball team game caught the attention of the whole world with the entertainment it has got. It all started in 16th century, the game was first played in England, believed that it was originally a children's game later adults too had started playing the same. Growth of cricket is seen during the 17th century in England and numerous references too available to indicate the same. Cricket became the national sport of England in the 18th century and the game too underwent major developments, new Laws were introduced in the game include three stump wicket, leg before wicket, etc. Well then soon after the game became more popular on the land of the 'Empire on which the sun never sets', it spread to other nations along with the colonial rush. In fact the British Empire had been instrumental in spreading the same overseas. By the middle of the 19th century, Cricket had become well established in many parts of the world especially where the British had their colonies. Organised competition at county and Test level developed, the last two decades before the World War - I, the Golden Age of cricket. Best players evolved from time to time, dominated the cricket world with their spectacular performance. Here is the list of the top ten all time best players of the The Gentleman's game.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer who is generally regarded as the best living batsman and the records prove that he is undoubtedly the most successful batsman today. He has made a world record for the highest number of ODI and Test matches. He has played 657 international cricket matches and also became the first batsman in history to cross the 34,000 run in all the forms of the game cricket. He is the most productive run scorer in one-day international cricket matches with 18,426 runs and 15,470 runs in other test matches. He also has made a record of the highest number of centuries in both ODI and Test cricket with 51 and 49 runs respectively. He also was the first player who made a doble-century in ODI history. He has been made Man of the Match 13 times in test matches and also Man of the Series around four times. He was also made Man of the Match sixty times in One day International matches and Man of the Series fourteen times. He has also constantly done very well in other Cricket World Cups.

Sir Donald George Bradman, who is generally known as The Don, was the greatest batsman of all times and he has made 99.94 as his career 'Test batting' average which is the greatest achievement in any major sports. He made his debut at the Adelaide Oval when he was 19 in his twenty years career of playing cricket and he also became the number one sporting idol of Australia. Other than the records he holds for batting average include 974 runs - Most runs in one series by any player during 1930; Most number of double centuries, 12; Most triple centuries, 2, and so on. He was the first Australian to have a museum which was dedicated to his life. His image has also been inscribed on postage stamps and some coins. The Royal Australian Mint was distributed with Bradman's image on it, a $5 commemorative gold coin. He was also initiated into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame during 2009.

Jacques Henry Kallis is a South African cricketer and is also the greatest all-rounders. He is an alarming right-hand batsman and also is a fast-medium swingbowler. He appeared for the first Test against England in 1995. He made his World Cup bow in the 1996 Cricket World Cup. He has played in more than 150 tests and 321 ODIs. He is the only cricketer in the history to make more than 11,000 runs and 250 wickets in one day and Test matches. He scored 13,046 runs in Test matches and 11,498 runs in ODIs. He also made 270 in ODIs and 284 wickets in Test matches. He has also scored centuries on 44 instances in Test matches and 17 times in ODI matches. He has led all the S. African batsmen in runs during ODI and Test matches. Hence, he has been regarded as the best and greatest cricketer ever seen.

Imran Khan is a former cricketer from Pakistan. He played international cricket for nearly two decades and was therefore considered as Pakistan's most victorious cricket captain. Khan made his Test cricket debut in 1971 against England at Birmingham. Three years later, he made his debut in the ODI match, and again played against England at Nottingham. At the peak of his career, which was in 1982, Khan became the captain of the Pakistan cricket team. As a captain, he reached the height of his career when he led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Imran Khan played in 175 ODIs and also in 88 Test matches. He took 182 wickets in ODI and 362 wickets in Test cricket matches. He was also called as Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1983. Khan took 10 wickets in a Test Cricket match 6 times and 5 wickets in innings 23 times.

Brian Charles Lara, the West Indian international cricket player was made his debut into international cricket in 1990. He is considered as one of the greatest batsmen of all time and on several occasions Lara topped the Test batting rankings and also holds several cricketing records. His highest individual score in first-class cricket was 501 not out. Lara also has made a record for the highest individual score of 400 not out in a test innings. He is the only cricketer to make a century, a double century, a triple century and also a quadruple century in all the Test matches. He has made a quintuple century in first class matches and he is regarded as one of the best batsmen in Test cricket history. He was the unsurpassed leading in scoring runs in Test cricket but was exceeded by Sachin Tendulkar in 2008. He made a feat of scoring many centuries against all nations playing test matches. He made 28 runs in a test match against South Africa, making a world record of the most runs ever made in a single over in Test cricket. He was presented the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World award during 1994 and 1995. He also got the coveted award of the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year.

Wasim Akram is a former cricketer from Pakistan. He was a real left arm fast bowler who bowled with great pace and a left-handed batsman. He is considered as one of the best fast bowlers in the history of the cricket game. He is also regarded as one of the creators and the best example of reverse swing bowling. In 1985, Akram made his Test cricket debut for Pakistan against New Zealand and began his ODI career against New Zealand in Pakistan in the year 1984. He also played 356 ODIs and 104 Test matches and he made 3717 and 2898 runs in ODIs and Test matches, respectively. He took 414 wickets in all the Test matches which he had played and took 502 wickets in ODIs. In Test cricket matches, he has taken 10 wickets in a match five times and he has taken 5 wickets in innings around 25 times. Akram has won seventeen Man-of-the-Match awards in 104 tests. He took four hat-tricks in International cricket - two in both ODIs and in Tests. He also ended with 22 Man-of-the-Match awards in the ODIs.

Ricky Thomas Ponting is former cricketer from Australia. He is an expert right-handed batsman and is commonly regarded by many people to be the best batsman in modern times. Between 2004 and 2011 he is a former captain also of the Australia national cricket team in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in ODIs. He is the most victorious captain of all time, scoring 48 victories in 77 Tests. He began his Test cricket debut in 1995 against Sri Lanka and his ODI debut in 1995 against South Africa. He played in 375 ODIs and 168 Test matches and he scored 13,704 and 13,378 runs in ODI and Test matches, respectively. Ricky Ponting is the leading run-scorer in Test and ODI cricket in Australia. He scored 30 ODI cricket centuries and 41 Test cricket centuries in his career. His best ODI batting score of 164 was scored against South Africa and his highest Test score was 242 against India. As a captain, he scored 162 victories as ODI captain and 48 victories as a Test captain. Ponting also made the record of making the most Cricket World Cups ever won as a captain.

Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj is a former Indian cricketer who was the captain of the Indian cricket team which won the 1983 Cricket World Cup. He was a right-arm pace bowler and was famous for his graceful action and strong outswinger, and was also India's main strike bowler during many years in his career. As a batsman, Kapil was a natural striker of the ball who might hook and drive efficiently. Kapil was a naturally assertive player and he frequently helped India in some tough situations by taking the attack to the opposition team. He was also the highest wicket taker in India in both key forms of cricket, Tests and ODIs. He is the only player in cricket history to have taken over 400 wickets and has scored more than 5,000 runs in Test matches, becoming one of the greatest all-rounders. He played 525 in ODI and 231 Test matches. Kapil took 553 in ODIs and 734 wickets in Test cricket matches as he was a spectacular bowler. According to the ICC cricket ratings for all-rounders in ODI cricket, his highest scoring of 631 is the best ever achieved. Kapil scored 53 times five wickets in innings in Test cricket matches.

Shane Keith Warne is former international cricketer from Australia who is known all over the world as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of cricket. He played his first Test match in 1992, and scored more than 1000 international wickets. Warne's record of 708 Test wickets was made for the most wickets taken by any bowler in any Test cricket. Warne is a useful lower-order batsman, and he scored more than 3000 Test runs, and he made a record for the most number of Test runs without a century. Warne played 145 Test matches and 194 ODIs. He had taken 5 wickets in an innings 37 times in Test cricket. He has made numerous spectacular performances in Ashes series against England and also as his Test career, Warne has done excellent bowling in one-day cricket.

Muttiah Muralitharan is a former cricketer from Sri Lanka who was regarded as the greatest Test match bowler ever known. Muralitharan became the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket when he had overtaken the previous record-holder Shane Warne. He has made an average of over six wickets per Test, and is one of the most successful bowlers in cricket. He is the first wrist-spinning off-spinner in the history of cricket. Since his debut in cricket in 1992, he has taken 800 Test wickets and more than 500 ODI wickets, and thus became the first player to take 1,000 wickets jointly in the two major forms of international cricket. Muralitharan has also taken five or more wickets in an innings on 67 occasions in Test cricket, which in itself is a good world record. He also holds the record of Most Man of the Series awards in Test cricket and he is also the only player to take 10 wickets in a Test in four successive cricket matches. He has been able to accomplish this feat twice.