Former India captain Rahul Dravid and Australian batting great Ricky Ponting have been inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame for their astonishing achievements in international cricket. Besides Dravid and Ponting, retired England woman wicketkeeper-batter Claire Taylor was also named in the Hall of Fame during a glittering ceremony, held in Dublin on Sunday (July 1).
While Dravid became the fifth player from India to be named in this esteemed list, Ponting is the 25th Aussie cricketer to receive this honour. Claire Taylor is the seventh woman overall and the third female player from England to be named in the elite list.
The ICC has certain criteria for cricketers to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. First and foremost, a player ought to complete five years away from cricket to be eligible to enter the club. Dravid had bid adieu from international cricket in March 2012 while Ponting had hung up his boots in the same year in December. Taylor had taken retirement from international cricket in April 2012.
As far as the achievement of these cricketers are concerned – Dravid has aggregated 13,288 runs in 164 Tests with 36 centuries and 10,889 runs in 344 ODIs with 12 centuries whereas Ponting has amassed 13,378 runs in 168 Tests with 41 tons and 13,704 runs in 375 ODIs with 30 hundreds.
Taylor, who made her England debut in 1999, represented her country in 15 Tests, 126 ODIs and 27 T20Is, scoring 1030, 4101 and 615 runs respectively. She was also very sharp behind the wickets, taking 18 catches in Tests, 41 in ODIs and 12 in T20Is besides affecting 7 stumpings in limited-overs cricket.
ICC’s decision to induct the trio of Dravid, Ponting and Taylor in the ‘Hall of Fame’ has certainly pleased the Twitter experts.
Here are some of the tweets endorsing ICC’s call and expressing their admiration for the 2018 ‘Hall of Famers’:
A true legend, and an inspiration who I look up to. Congratulations Rahul Bhai :) https://t.co/QmMK3HaGBM
— cheteshwar pujara (@cheteshwar1) July 2, 2018
Wall of honour ???? https://t.co/PRcd6AHwk7
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) July 2, 2018
Yesssss!!! One of the best!!! ???? https://t.co/ge8BwjJcgt
— Isa Guha (@isaguha) July 1, 2018
Thoroughly deserved.#legend https://t.co/2S8529wfmi
— Jason Gillespie ???????? (@dizzy259) July 1, 2018
Congrats @SCT_Tails !!!! https://t.co/9SrxqqajYv
— Sarah Taylor (@Sarah_Taylor30) July 2, 2018
Very well deserved. Champions. https://t.co/2fp3Wps7KZ
— Damien Martyn (@damienmartyn) July 1, 2018
Definitely well deserved. Congrats to both, two of my favourites to play against and champion blokes. https://t.co/YNH99iFqMJ
— Graeme Smith (@GraemeSmith49) July 2, 2018
Congratulations Rahul and Ricky newest members of #ICCHallofFame . Well deserved for all the achievements ???? https://t.co/kGI4sf7kPv
— Mahela Jayawardena (@MahelaJay) July 2, 2018
Heartiest Congratulations Rahul Bhai on being inducted into The #ICCHallOfFame. It’s a moment of immense proud for the nation! ????????????????????????
— Suresh Raina (@ImRaina) July 2, 2018
Here’s to many more such achievements ahead ???? #RahulDravid #ICCHallofFame #TheWall #Cricket @ICC @BCCI pic.twitter.com/EJ9IKj6Bzc