India is a vast country having quite a rich tradition and history of playing Cricket for several decades. The game of Cricket has often been compared with religion and this can easily indicate how popular the sport is, in India. The Indian Cricket players have shown extraordinary performances in different occasion and have proved themselves to be among the best ones in World of Cricket. Some of them have also dominated over all the other cricketers of the world, during the peak of their careers.

The first one of the Indian Cricket players to get noticed in the international level was His Highness, Ranjitsinhji, who used to represent the England team during the later half of the nineteenth century. As India was under the British rule at that time, the players from Indian origin were considered as British players. Another famous Indian Cricket player of that time was Duleepsinghji, who also played extraordinarily in different occasions. During the first tour of any foreign team in India, made by MCC Club in 1926, the legendary Indian Cricketer, C. K. Nayudu excelled with the bat. He played some outstanding innings during the tour. After the formation of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 1928, the Indian Cricketers started to play various matches, as part of the Indian Cricket team.

The Indian Cricket players shone with their performance in the first few overseas tours of the Indian team in England and other countries. Some of the eminent players of that time include Vijay Merchant, Vijay Hazare, Vinoo Mankad, Lala Amarnath, Phadkar, Polly Umrigar, etc. played some brilliant innings during that period. The on field battle between Vijay Merchant and Vijay Hazare was one of the most discussed matters in that period. After that, India saw the rising of some other players like Pankaj Roy, Subhash Gupte, Jasu Patel, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Chandu Borde, Saleem Durani, etc during the 1960s. The 1970s presented the fabulous spin quartet of India comprising Bishen Singh Bedi (left-arm spinner), Erapalli Prasanna (off-spinner), BS Chandrasekhar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (off spinner). Apart from them, two of India`s greatest batsmen ever, Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Vishwanath also made their presence felt in the international arena, during that period.

The Indian Cricket players got some significant successes and brought a lot of glory for the nation during the decade of 1980s. The Indian cricket saw the rising of some of its most talented players like Kapil Dev, Mahinder Amarnath, Madan Lal, Roger Binny, Mohammad Azharuddin, etc, during this decade. All these players made huge contribution in India`s achievements like winning the World Cp, 1983, the Benson and Hedges Cup in Australia in 1985, defeating Pakistan in a historical match in 1985 etc. The Indian Cricketers also established themselves as one of the best players in the world of Cricket during that period.

In the 1990s, the Indian Cricket saw the upcoming of more extremely talented Indian Cricket players, who helped the Indian team in increasing its status and improving its performance. Some of these Cricketers include Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, VVS Laxman, etc. Among these Indian Cricketers, Sachin Tendulkar should get a special mention, as he continued to become the star Cricketer of India for more than a decade. He is still playing international Cricket and is serving Indian Cricket with his extraordinary talent.

In the new millennium, a new set of Indian Cricket players have been showing their excellence on the Cricket field and they are taking the Indian Cricket team to a new stature. The players like Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, MS Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, etc. are all showing their potentialities to be called as `Great Cricketers` in the future. They are also making great efforts and achieving great feats both on their home soil and in overseas during this period. As an impressive set of players like Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Yousuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha etc are also eager to prove themselves on the Cricket field, it seems that the supply line of talented Indian Cricket players is quite secured for the next few decades.

Some classifications can be made of the Indian Cricket players according to the level of their playing like district level, state level, national level or international level. India has a highly impressive number of district level Cricketers, who are showing their talents in the district level tournaments. Apart from that, there is a large number of state level Cricketers in India, who are playing extremely well for their respective states. All these Indian state level Cricketers are promising to get noticed in the national level. The national level cricketers of India are also showing the bench strength of Indian national team, as many of them are capable of being selected in the national team, at any time. The Indian Cricket players, who are representing the country in various international tournaments, have already established themselves as the best cricketers in the country. They are also bringing a lot of glory and happiness to their countrymen that the Indian people love to cherish always.