Five of the best: India's Hall of Fame cricketers

MS Dhoni

Born on 7 July 1981, MS Dhoni is one of the most celebrated cricketers in the history of India and for good reason.  He has been credited with redefining the role of wicketkeeper batter at international level, especially in the shorter formats of the game.

His wicketkeeping was unorthodox to say the least, using to-then unheard-of techniques such as deflecting the ball onto the stumps to affect run outs rather than the more traditional - and slower - method of gathering the ball in the gloves before breaking the wickets.

Dhoni's glovework behind the stumps was, nevertheless, lightning-quick and resulted in a plethora of stumpings across all formats of the game and his unique style of diving for catches caught the eye.

His leadership ability is virtually without peer and he has captained more international matches than any other cricketer. He is also the most successful captain in India's history leading the country to famous victories in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, 2011 Cricket World Cup, and 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, and is the only Indian captain to have won all three of the major international limited-over tournaments.

He was one of the finest proponents of one-day batting in the game and boasts a very impressive ODI batting average of 50.57 with 73 half centuries and 10 centuries, as well as taking 229 catches and making 123 stumpings in a staggering 350 matches.

Sachin Tendulkar

Born on 24 April 1973, Sachin Tendulkar is regarded as one of the finest batters to have played the game, inside of India and around the world.

The Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ranked him as the second greatest Test batter of all time behind Australia's Donald Bradman, which also makes him the best batter of the modern era according to the publication.

His talent was so great it was recognised at an incredibly early age. Having reportedly only started playing the game at 11 years old, he made his Test match debut just five years later aged 16 against Pakistan in November 1989.

He played international cricket for India for over 24 years and appeared in 646 matches across all formats, including just one T20 International, scoring 15 921 Test runs at an average of 53.78 and 18 426 in ODIs at an average of 44.83.

Tendulkar was known for having a very compact and technically sound batting style, moving very little at the crease while the ball was being delivered and playing short, crisp shots once it reached him. He was renowned for having virtually no weaknesses and was able to score runs to every corner of the ground, making him very difficult to bowl to.

Anil Kumble

Born on 17 October 1970, Anil Kumble was a prolific leg-spin bowler for India and was unorthodox in that he used his height and extra speed to deceive batters with subtle spin and devious bounce where other wrist spinners tend to rely on exaggerated turn to get wickets.

He grew up idolising another Indian leg spinner BS Chandrasekhar and ended up far surpassing him in terms of achievements and accolades for the India national team. When he retired, Kumble had taken 619 Test wickets which placed him third in the list of all-time Test wicket-takers at the time. He has since been pushed down to fourth place by England fast bowler James Anderson.

Kumble became the first Indian spinner to take 300 Test wickets in 2001 and then claimed the same achievement in ODI cricket a year later. He even scored a Test century with the bat.

Known for his grit and determination, he was able to bounce back from several slumps in his career by changing things in his action, finding a way to get a bit more turn and even developing new deliveries. The greatest example was when he bowled a full spell of overs with a fractured jaw against the West Indies in 2002.

Rahul Dravid

Born on 11 January 1973, Rahul Dravid was known for his sublime batting technique and was probably one of the last true classical batters in an era where the focus of the game was firmly shifting towards shorter formats and more explosive batting styles.

His nickname, the Great Wall, is the perfect indicator of how he was always willing to shut up shop and defend to protect his wicket during spells of quality bowling or when the pitch made batting difficult.

He scored 13 288 Test runs at an average of 42.51 at a strike rate of just 42.51, which is almost prohibitively slow in today's game.

He was part of the famous India side that changed the illusion of India being easy to beat away from home by refusing to give his wicket away cheaply, no matter the circumstances.

While his style made people believe he was not suited to one-day cricket early in his career, he was later able to remodel himself as a reliable finisher in the middle order - still not an easy out but able to score the runs needed when the pressure was on.

Sunil Gavaskar

Born on 10 July 1949, Sunil Gavaskar is one of the most successful opening batters to have played the game. In an era when openers were considered successful if they had an average in the 30s, he scored 10 122 runs for India at an average of 51.12, scoring 34 centuries and 45 half-centuries with a highest score of 236 not out.

He was the picture of an "old school" Test opener, with a style based on virtually perfect technique and mythical levels of concentration to get him through periods of vicious fast bowling with the new ball.

He did not play his strokes with much flair but was among the best judges of line and length in the international game and was equally adept off the front and back foot, which made him incredibly difficult to get out and helped him become the first batter in history to reach 10 000 Test runs.

Other Indian cricketers in the ICC Hall of Fame: Kapil Dev, Neetu David, Virender Sehwag, Diana Edulji, Vinoo Mankad, Bishan Bedi