Probable heirs to Sachin Tendulkar's throne

2. AB De Villiers

Yet another South African on this list. The embodiment of a modern day cricketer, AB De Villiers is a far cry from what Sachin Tendulkar represents to the game. It is important to remember that Sachin was also an innovative batsman in a sense; the paddle sweep is not a shot that was ever-present in the game of cricket. But the level at which AB De Villiers innovates is head and shoulders above the rest of the current batsmen.

A product of T20 cricket, De Villiers is also equally adept at playing orthodox shots straight from the prescribed cricket manual. He made his debut at the age of 20, and is 29 now. He averages over 50.00 in both forms of the game with a cumulative total of almost 12,000 runs with 30 hundreds (16 in Tests, 14 in ODI’s).

He shares Sachin’s consistency, his attitude, technical aptitude and supplements it with innovation, power and leadership ability. He can keep wickets and is athletic in the field, a complete cricketer who is a boon to the game; but comparisons with Sachin remain unfair.