Ricky Ponting

One of the greatest batsmen of all time, the most successful Test captain ever, one runs out of superlatives while describing Ricky Ponting's career. He was known for his aggression, both in his craft and in his captaincy. For the better part of his career, he led the Australian 'Invincibles', the team with the likes of Shane Warne, Mathew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer. Under him, Australia won three consecutive World Cups in 1999, 2003 and 2006 in a period of unprecedented dominance in world cricket. The amount of Test and ODI centuries he stacked up combined is only surpassed by Sachin Tendulkar. As captain, his only notable defeats were the two Ashes and slip ups in South Africa and India. He stepped down from ODI captaincy when Australia's run of 26 unbeaten World Cup games ended in 2011. His batting form too saw a decline since then and finally, in 2012, he announced that the Perth Test against South Africa would be his final international outing for Australia.