"The ICC Cricket Hall of Fame is our way of honouring the greats of our game," ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said on Sunday. "Only the very best players in the world are recognised for their contribution to cricket in this way and I would like to congratulate Rahul, Ricky and Claire who are wonderful additions to the list of cricketing luminaries in the Hall of Fame," he added.
These comments came in the wake of three new names being inducted into the famed list. Former captains Rahul Dravid of India, Ricky Ponting of Australia and retired England woman wicketkeeper-batter Claire Taylor were inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame during a glittering ceremony in Dublin. (Also Read: Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting join ICC Hall of Fame)
Rahul Dravid became only the fifth player from India to be named in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame joining Bishan Singh Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble on the list. What came as a surprise to most Indians was that Sachin Tendulkar, arguably the greatest batsman ever, isn't part of this list.
The reason for this anomaly is that Tendulkar isn't yet eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame. ICC rules stipulate that for a player to be welcomed into this list he/she shouldn't have played any international cricket for the past five years. Since Sachin retired from Tests in November 2013, he is yet to become eligible for inclusion into the list and will have to wait until after November this year to be considered for the same.
Given the fact that Tendulkar has been one of the greats of the game, there is no doubt that the question of his induction into the ICC Hall of Fame is not of "if" but "when", which might be answered in the very near future.
(With IANS inputs)
