Most influential cricketers of the 21st century Part 2: The debate

The Top Order Cricket Podcast

In this episode of the show, we take a break from the live cricket to discuss the most influential cricketers of the 21st century. This is Part 2 of this discussion, so if you haven't yet listened to Part 1, go back in your feed and start there to hear our definition of 'influential', and the wider group of candidates we considered.

In this second half of our discussion, we narrow down the debate and each decide on our top 4 cricketers to etch into stone for the Top Order Podcast Mount Rushmore. We talk about T20 influencers like Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard, Indian powerhouse figureheads like MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, culture setters like Brendon McCullum and Andrew Strauss, outliers like Ellyse Perry, Lasith Malinga and Rashid Khan as we try to evaluate who how the game of cricket got to where it is today and who has had the biggest impact.

Who did we forget? What do you agree with/disagree with? We've love to get your thoughts and continue the discussion.

We'll be back again in about a week with our regular This Week in Cricket programming. Until then please take the time to give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter & Facebook, and @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram & YouTube) and a (5-Star!) review at your favourite podcast provider, or tell a friend to download. It really helps others find the show and is the best thing you can do to support us. You can also find all our written content, including our Hall of Fame series, at our website.

You can also dip back into our guest episodes - including conversations Mike Hesson, Shane Bond and Mike Hussey, current players such as Matt Henry, Sophie Devine and Ish Sodhi, coaches Gary Stead, Jeetan Patel and Luke Wright, as well as Barry Richards, Frankie Mackay, Bharat Sundaresan and many more fascinating people from all across the cricketing world.

And if you'd like to reach out to us with feedback, questions or guest suggestions, get in touch at [e-mail].

Thanks for listening.

0:00 Intro - the categories

5:50 Chris Gayle v Kieron Pollard

12:40 Brendon McCullum v Andrew Strauss

23:40 MS Dhoni v Virat Kohli

30:30 Ellyse Perry, Lasith Malinga, Rashid Khan, Adam Gilchrist

39:45 Who makes Mount Rushmore?

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