To Sunil Gavaskar to Sachin Tendulkar, Indian cricket has produce many legendary cricketers. Apart from their cricket skills, what earn them legendary status was the sacrifice they made for the Indian team.
With all their selfless acts, they made the next generation fall in love with the game and inspire many of them to pick up the sport of cricket.
Sourav Ganguly Vacating Opening Spot For Virender Sehwag
Sourav Ganguly is widely regard as one of the greatest Indian captains of all time.
The ‘Prince of Kolkata’ took charge of the Men in Blue during a difficult time. Indian cricket was in deep turmoil after the infamous match-fixing scandal which led to the ouster of former captain Mohammed Azharuddin and the responsibility of building a new team fell on his shoulders.
Back then, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar form a solid opening pair for the Indian team.
The duo formed a lethal opening combination but after the arrival of Virender Sehwag, Dada realise the youngster’s potential and paved the way for the Delhi batter to open the innings for the country.
Sachin Tendulkar Giving Up Opening For Virender Sehwag
Apart from Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar also play a huge role in promoting Virender Sehwag up the order to open the innings.
In fact it was Sachin Tendulkar who batted at No. 4, while Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag open the innings in ODIs.
During the 2003 World Cup group stage, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly open the innings against Australia but India face a humiliating defeat.
After that match, head coach John Wright ask all the players to pick their opening combination and write it down on a chit.
The majority of the players chose Sachin-Sehwag and from there on they became India’s permanent opening pair.
Rahul Dravid Donning Keeping Gloves
If you ask any fan who is the most selfless Indian cricketer of all time, chances are they will take Rahul Dravid’s name.
Rahul Dravid, who is the current head coach of the Indian team, always kept the team above himself.
From opening the innings in overcast conditions to keeping wickets, Rahul Dravid never said no to anything.
For years, the former India captain did the wicket-keeping duties because it allow the team to play an extra batter in the middle-order and improve the side’s balance.
Wicket-keeping is a tough job but ‘The Wall’ never complain.
MS Dhoni Sacrificing Captaincy
With most ICC titles under his belt, MS Dhoni is arguably the best Indian captain of all time.
For the majority of his career, MS Dhoni was the captain of the Indian team.
If he want he could have easily push himself up in the batting order but he continue to bat in the lower order and became the greatest finisher of all time.
That was not the only sacrifice he made.
The Ranchi-born MS Dhoni never gave any importance to his personal accolades.
He retire from Test cricket after playing 90 Tests in the middle of the series against Australia and hand over the captaincy to Virat Kohli.
If MS Dhoni want he could have easily play a few more matches and complete his century of red-ball games.
Yuvraj Singh Playing World Cup With Cancer
One of the biggest reasons why India won the 2011 World Cup was Yuvraj Singh.
The southpaw was the best player for the Indian team during that showpiece event.
Not just bat, the former Punjab cricketer also emerge as one of the leading wicket-takers during that competition.
From his all-round brilliance, Yuvraj Singh took home the ‘Player of the Tournament’ trophy.
Later it was reveale that the left-handed batter knew he had cancer but he still kept on playing, sacrificing his health for the team.
It was indeed one of the biggest sacrifices made in the history of Indian cricket.
