Impact Index Ranked Top 25 Cricketers of All Times

A new and innovative system, Impact Index which measures performance relative to others ranked 25 all time renowned cricketers according to their performances which led to the victory of their teams. The best ODI cricketer of all time, according to this ranking, is Vivian Richards followed by Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee, Adam Gilchrist and Ian Botham.

Two active (players still not retired) Indian players in the top 20 of the ODI Impact Index are Mahendra Singh Dhoni at No. 13 and Sachin Tendulkar at No. 18. The only other active cricketers in that category are South African Jacques Kallis at No. 8, Australia’s Shane Watson at 16 and West Indian Chris Gayle at 19. Apart from Sachin and Dhoni Kapil Dev is the only Indian in the top 25, ranked at No. 9.

The index was developed by a team led by Jaideep Varma and Jatin Thakkar. The website www.impactindexcricket.com is scheduled to be launched on 25 January 2011. Impact Index measures impact of a cricketer’s performance in a specific match on a Scale of 0 TO 5, relative to other performances in the same match. If someone’s Impact Index is 1 in a match, it means he has done one man’s job in that match. If 2, he has done 2 men’s work and so on. Everybody in the top 25 of the list has more or less multiple skills, maybe useful even as a parttimer with the ball or a handy batsman. The only one who makes it almost entirely on the strength of a single skill is West Indian Joel Garnerwho is known as the most effective ODI bowlers ever and the master of the yorker in the death overs.