Cricket is more than just a sport in India, it is a religion, followed by every single Indian and even though India may be a very vast and diverse country divided by different beliefs and ideologies, there is one thing that unites all Indians and that is cricket.
Looking at sports in India from a general perspective, it is clear that there are some sports where there is a clear majority of competitors representing the country from one community, but cricket is not one of them.
India has produced many great cricketers over time. From north to south, east to west, India has had cricketers from different states, representing both, their state nationally and the country internationally.
But there have been some states that have never failed to produce the best of cricketers throughout the history of Indian cricket, and judging based on factors like the number of cricketers by state and their contribution to Indian cricket and their state, here are the top 5 Indian states that have contributed most to Indian cricket.
#5 Tamil Nadu
The south Indian state of Tamil Nadu has had over 22 of its players representing India. TN (erstwhile Madras) have won the Ranji trophy twice and finished as runners-up ten times.
They have produced many great talents over the years, starting from former captain of the Indian cricket team, Krishnamachari Srikkanth all the way to the current spin wizard, Ravichandran Ashwin.
Kris Srikkanth represented India in over 100 ODIs and was a major driving force for TN's success in the domestic circuit. Ravi Ashwin, the spin-bowling genius, is the fastest bowler to reach the 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300-wicket mark in test cricket.
There have also been many other cricketers, perhaps not with as much impact as the above two, like Murali Vijay and Dinesh Karthik. Vijay has made a significant contribution to Indian Test cricket, recording 11 centuries in total.
Karthik, Tamil Nadu's wicket-keeper of choice, has been out of the picture for a very long time, primarily because he was always in the shadow of world cup winning captain and wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Although now, he, along with Wriddhiman Saha, will be one of the favourites to step up and fill in for the soon to retire MS Dhoni.
#4 Punjab
Though Punjab don't have as great a record as Tamil Nadu at the Ranji level, winning the trophy only once, the quality of cricketers they produce and their contributions outweigh TN. Punjab has produced 19 cricketers who have represented India.
One of the best all-rounders to play for the Indian team, and the man who helped India win their second world cup, Yuvraj Singh and also the magician who could spin the "doosra" Harbhajan Singh, are the most well-known cricketers from Punjab.
There have also been other cricketers, maybe not as famous now, but were greats during their time. Some of them are, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Mohinder Amarnath and Lala Amarnath.
Sidhu was a top-order batsman for the Indian cricket team, who was especially known for his explosive hitting which during his time, earned him the title of "sixer Sidhu".
The Amarnaths have also made great contributions, with Mohinder being the better-known one. He was the main reason behind India's tournament-winning run in the 1983 World Cup under Kapil Dev.
#3 Delhi
Turns out Delhi is not just the political capital of the country, but also one of the cricketing capitals. 22 of their cricketers have represented the country internationally.
Delhi has produced one of the greatest cricketers of all time, who is also the current captain of the Indian cricket team, Virat Kohli. The Indian cricket team has seen many fine players during its time, but none as aggressive, yet at the same time charismatic, as Kohli. He is one of the most consistent cricketers, recording an average of over 50 in all formats of the game.
There have been many other prolific players from Delhi. Virender Sehwag, the "Nawab of Najafgarh", was one the most destructive batsmen of his time. Sehwag holds many records for India and is best known for being the only Indian cricketer to score two triple centuries in Test cricket.
An equally prolific opener was Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir is best remembered for his critical contributions during India's wins in the finals of both the 2007 World T20 Cup and the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Shikhar Dhawan is now filling Gambhir's shoes and is one of the best openers in the sport.
Another famous cricketer to have represented India is Ishant Sharma.
#2 Karnataka
The south Indian state of Karnataka has been one of the most dominant states in domestic cricket and has produced many cricketers, both bowlers and batsmen of unmatched quality who have represented India over the years. They have won the Ranji trophy 8 times, the second most number of times.
There have been many cricketers from Karnataka, who not only entered the Karnataka cricket's Hall of Fame but also went down in cricketing history as some of the greatest of all time. It is impossible to decide who has been a greater force in Indian cricket - Rahul Dravid or Anil Kumble.
Rahul Dravid was born and raised in the capital city of Bangalore. He is the fourth highest run scorers of all time in Test cricket and is one of the few players to have scored more than 10,000 runs in both Test cricket and ODIs.
Dravid holds the record for having faced the most number of balls in Test cricket, and also the record for most number of minutes spent at the crease.
Another cricketer who was born and raised in Karnataka's capital city is Anil Kumble. He is the third highest Test wicket-taker of all time and although a spinner, he was not known to be a big turner of the ball, but rather relied on his pace and precision.
Not far away, from the city of Mysore, we have one of the finest pacers that India has produced and proudly known as the Mysore Express, Javagal Srinath. He has the second most number of wickets by an Indian in ODIs (second only to his friend from Bangalore, Anil Kumble).
Another bowler, who was known for his bowling combination with Javagal Srinath, was Venkatesh Prasad. He has taken over 200 wickets, both in Tests and ODIs, until an injury later ruled him out of the team.
Gundappa Vishwanath, popularly known as Vishy, was one of India's finest batsmen through the 70s when cricket was still in its pubescent stages in India.
There are many others who have done Karnataka and India proud. They are current Indian opener, KL Rahul, Syed Kirmani who was India's wicket-keeper through the 70s. Roger Binny, who is known for his exceptional bowling performance in the 1983 World Cup where he was the highest wicket-taker.
Some other players who have made noteworthy contributions are Stuart Binny, Manish Pandey and Vinay Kumar.
#1 Mumbai
The undisputed kings of Indian cricket are Mumbai. They have won the Ranji trophy a record 41 times and are home to India's greatest cricketer, and arguably the greatest cricketer of all-time, Sachin Tendulkar.
Famously known as the 'master-blaster', Tendulkar had a career spanning close to 24 years. He is the highest run scorer of all time, both in Test cricket and ODI cricket, scoring nearly 16,000 runs in Tests and 18,000 runs in ODIs.
Mumbai was also home to perhaps India's second greatest batsmen, Sunil Gavaskar. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in Test cricket history. Popularly known as the 'little master' Gavaskar was known for his extremely defensive style of play. He was the first Test batsman to score 10,000 runs.
Yet another major figure in Indian cricket from Mumbai is Ravi Shastri. He is one of India's better all-rounders and has recorded over 3000 runs and taken over 100 wickets in both Tests and ODIs.
Zaheer Khan is one the best Indian pacers of all time and has taken over 300 wickets in Tests and nearly as many in ODIs. Another fast bowler, Ajit Agarkar was India's spearhead for a very long time.
Another key player in the Indian batting line up at that time was Dilip Vengsarkar. He has played in over 100 Test as well as ODI matches for India.
Some other players who deserve a mention for their contributions are - Ajinkya Rahane, the man who holds the current middle order together. Sanjay Manjrekar, Wasim Jaffer and Polly Umrigar.
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