Ravi Shastri names his 5 most influential Indian cricketers of all time

Overview

• Popular commentator Ravi Shastri revealed his list of five most influential Indian cricketers
• The former Indian coach picked players right from the 1970s to those who are still active
• Sachin Tendulkar topped Shastri's list sheerly due to his longevity and delivering despite huge expectations

Ravi Shastri recently revealed his list of five most influential cricketers of all time in an interview featuring former cricketers like Michael Vaughan, Sir Alastair Cook, Phil Tufnell, and David Lloyd. Ahead of the Manchester Test, Shastri appeared on the talk show, where he was asked about his perspective on cricket's growth in India and the individuals who had a bigger impact on it.

The former Indian cricketer took the names of Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Virat Kohli, and MS Dhoni in his list. Shastri claimed that his picks were from different eras: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and beyond. He mentioned the name of Jasprit Bumrah as an honorable mention before saying the right-arm pacer has a lot of cricket left in him.

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"(Sunil) Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sachin (Tendulkar), Virat definitely. I'm looking at the most influential players of that era. MS (Dhoni) again. So these will be the five," said Shastri in the interview.

Ravi Shastri names Sachin Tendulkar the most influential Indian cricketer of all time

Alastair Cook, one of the hosts of the interview, regarded Gavaskar as the 'Godfather' among all and claimed him to be the best batter. Sheerly as a cricketer, Shastri picked Tendulkar as the most influential Indian cricketer of all time.

The popular analyst pointed out that the former Indian cricketer had to deliver amidst huge expectations. He added the fact that Tendulkar played for a whopping 24 years at the highest level and scored 100 hundreds. Shastri also noted that Tendulkar faced best bowling attacks from the late 1980s to the early 2010s.

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"I would put the entire package—number one would be Tendulkar because of the expectations, longevity, for having played 24 years in the game, for 100 hundreds. He played every pace attack of that decade," Shastri added in his statement.