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M. S. Dhoni                                                                                               

The spectacular arrival of Virender Sehwag was bound to inspire others to bat with the same mindset. But the odds of a clone emerging from the backwaters of Jharkhand, whose state side has consistently scraped the bottom, was highly remote. That was until Mahendra Singh Dhoni arrived.  Born in Ranchi, Bihar.

He can be swashbuckling with the bat and secure with the wicketkeeping gloves. His neck-length hair adds to his dash. Though Dhoni made his first-class debut in the 1999-2000 season, it was only in 2004 that he became a serious contender for national selection with some stirring performances when the occasion demanded. With his two centuries against Pakistan A, in the triangular tournament in Kenya, that he established himself as a clinical destroyer of bowling attacks.

In just his fifth one-dayer, against Pakistan at Vishakapatnam, he cracked a dazzling 148 - putting even Sehwag in the shade - and followed that up with a colossal 183 not out at Jaipur against Sri Lanka in November, when he broke Adam Gilchrist's record for the highest score by a wicketkeeper in ODIs. He made an instant impact on the Test level too, pounding 148 at Faisalabad, in only his fifth Test.

He was elevated to the vice-captaincy of the one-day squad for the tour of England and Ireland in 2007 and, soon after, was appointed captain of the Twenty20 squad for the World Championship in South Africa. A heady title triumph marked him out as a leader for the future and was handed over the reins of the one-day side in September 2007 after Rahul Dravid decided to step down as captain. It didn't take too long for him to enhance his reputation, claiming India's first tri-series triumph in Australia. He captained Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, losing out to Shane Warne's Rajasthan Royals in a tense final. As a stop-gap Test captain, he was credited with leading India to their biggest ever win in terms of runs (320), against Australia in Mohali.

His latest achievement - ODI and Test Series victories in New Zealand.

Gautam Gambhir 

Gautam Gambhir's attacking strokeplay at the top of the order for Delhi set tongues wagging as long back as 2000, but it took him almost seven years to polish his technique and cement his place in the Indian team in all forms of the game. His short stature and diminutive build belie the power he packs in his off-side shots. Domestic bowlers were at the receiving end of his strokeplay early, as Gambhir creamed six hundreds and averaged 66.78 in his first four Ranji Trophy seasons.

A place in the Indian one-day team followed, but that was to be the start of a four-year period where Gambhir was only intermittently a part of the Indian side. Along with his shot-making ability came a tendency to drive loosely at deliveries outside off, and a habit of falling over to the off side when playing to leg. Both these flaws were ruthlessly exploited by Australia's bowlers in Gambhir's Test debut in Mumbai in 2004, and runs against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe failed to convince critics as Gambhir spent most of 2005 and 2006 in the outer.

That, though, gave Gambhir the opportunity to work on his flaws and hone his technique. When changes were called for in the wake of a disastrous 2007 World Cup, Gambhir found himself back in favour in the shorter versions. The World Twenty20 greatly enhanced his reputation on the global stage, as Gambhir notched up runs consistently, scoring three half-centuries, including a composed 75 in a high-pressure final against Pakistan. His ability to soak up pressure, run hard between the wickets, and mould his approach according to the team needs were further in evidence during the triangular CB Series in Australia in 2007-08, where he scored two high-quality centuries, showing along the way that he had worked on his flaws: the technique was noticeably tighter around off, and he was no longer such an obvious lbw candidate. He was also instrumental in guiding Delhi to their first Ranji Trophy title in 16 years, scoring a hundred in the final as captain, and was among the leading run-scorers in the IPL.

An opportunity in Tests duly came when Wasim Jaffer flopped repeatedly, and this time Gambhir grabbed it greedily. He was consistently among the runs in Sri Lanka, while the home series against Australia brought him even bigger rewards: back-to-back hundreds, including a double at Feroz Shah Kotla, his home ground, which answered questions about his ability to concentrate and bat for long periods. His obvious camaraderie with Delhi mate Virender Sehwag was a huge plus too, as the two established a successful pairing at the top with 15 fifty-plus stands in their first 30 partnerships, making them the second-most prolific opening pair for India. Gambhir crossed 1,000 runs in 2008 to cap off what was a phenomenal year.

Amid all the positives, the only black mark was a tendency to lose his cool and get into skirmishes with opposition players: his elbowing of Shane Watson in Delhi - his second such misdemeanour after a similar incident with Shahid Afridi - earned him a one-Test ban.

Latest Achievement - Man of the Seires in New Zealand.

Sachin Tendulkar  

Sachin Tendulkar has been the most complete batsman of his time, and arguably the biggest cricket icon as well. His batting is based on the purest principles: perfect balance, economy of movement, precision in stroke-making, and that intangible quality given only to geniuses, anticipation. If he doesn't have a signature stroke - the upright, back-foot punch comes close - it is because he is equally proficient in each of the full range of orthodox shots (and plenty of improvised ones as well) and can pull them out at will.

Though he has adopted a noticeably conservative approach in the last quarter of his career, there are no apparent weaknesses in Tendulkar's game. He can score all around the wicket, off both front foot and back, and has made runs in all parts of the world in all conditions.

Some of his finest performances have come against Australia, the overwhelmingly dominant team of his era. His century as a 19-year old on a lightning fast pitch at the WACA is considered one of the best innings ever to have been played in Australia. A few years later he received the ultimate compliment from the ultimate batsman when Don Bradman confided to his wife that Tendulkar reminded him of himself.

Blessed with the keenest of cricket minds, and armed with a loathing for losing, Tendulkar set about doing what it took to become one of the best batsmen in the world. This was after he was turned away from a fast-bowling camp in Chennai by Dennis Lillee.

Tendulkar's greatness was established early: he was only 16 when he made his Test debut. He was hit on the mouth by Waqar Younis but continued to bat, in a blood-soaked shirt. His first Test hundred, a match-saving one at Old Trafford, came when he was 17, and he had 16 Test hundreds before he turned 25. In 2000 he became the first batsman to have scored 50 international hundreds, and in 2008 he passed Brian Lara as the leading Test run-scorer and the first to 12,000 runs. He currently holds the record for most hundreds in both Tests and ODIs - remarkable, considering he didn't score his first ODI hundred till his 79th match.

Tendulkar's considerable achievements seem greater still when looked at in the light of the burden of expectations he has had to bear from his adoring but somewhat unreasonable followers, who have been prone to regard anything less than a hundred as a failure. The aura may have dimmed, if only slightly, as the years on the international circuit have taken their toll on the body, but Tendulkar remains, by a distance, the most worshipped cricketer in the world.

Latest Achievement - A highly successful Seires in New Zealand.