ARE BORN.

A thrusting Jamaican left-hander, Gayle earned himself a black mark on his first senior tour - to England in 2000 - where the new boys were felt to be insufficiently respectful of their elders. But a lack of respect, for opposition bowlers at least, has served Gayle well since then. Tall and imposing at the crease, he loves to carve through the covers off either foot, and has the ability to decimate the figures of even the thriftiest of opening bowlers. And in this era of UKC, Gayle is the batsman who has thrived like no other.

Karthik was still a giant in domestic cricket though, and had a knack for turning up on turning tracks. No doubt his penchant to sweep, reverse sweep and hare down that track at spinners helped his cause. Those quick feet have at times failed him behind the stumps - often at crucial junctures.

For a start, the slant of his all-round skills only became clear ten years into his career; he is a leg-spinning allrounder. Variety is his calling and as well as a traditional leg-break, he has two googlies, a conventional offie and a lethal faster one, though this is increasingly rare. All come with the threat of considerable, late drift. He fairly hustles through overs, which in limited-over formats is a weapon in itself and the package is dangerous.

A batter who hits the ball hard enough to make it scream for mercy, he functions primarily as a finisher. He generates fair pace and bounce with the ball in hand and when it is anywhere near him in the field, it doesn't matter at what speed it's travelling; Russell will probably get to it. He is less a cricketer, in the traditional sense, than an athlete.

There is almost no role in a cricket side that Shoaib Malik hasn't filled, so much so that over ten years into his career, nobody is sure what his precise and best role is. In essence, he is a batting allrounder, though he started his career as an off-break bowler. Partly the problem is that he is capable, as a batsman, of fulfilling many roles with some competence.

An allrounder with plenty of flair and skill both as a batter and seam bowler, Dwayne Bravo will go down as one of T20's early legends - he played seven World Cups in the format, winning two, as well as over 15 franchise league titles, and was the first bowler to get to 500 T20 wickets. He grew up wanting to be the next Brian Lara, but eventually made his name in the shortest format, particularly for his death-overs bowling and big hitting.

Rashid Khan has been Afghanistan's first global superstar, and the key to their successes in their early years in international cricket. His extraordinarily effective legspin has made him one of the greatest bowlers ever, among the first names on wishlists of teams in leagues all around the world. Not a big turner of the ball, he puts batters under pressure with his speed through the air. His biggest weapon is an accurate googly, and he has variations aplenty. With bat in hand he is more than capable of clearing the boundary late in an innings, and he has airbrushed many a middling total into a match-winning one for his team.

Chris Jordan, a fast bowler with a level-headed calmness and a fearsome yorker, found his niche as a death specialist in T20 cricket for England after initially breaking through as a bowling allrounder in Tests and ODIs.

Eoin Joseph Gerard Morgan has represented both Ireland and England at the international level and has earned respect as an inventive and free-stroking middle-order batsman, especially in the shorter formats. He has set a host of new records in ODI cricket, including the two highest scores made in the format. Morgan, relentlessly committed to this bold style of play on good days and bad, was at the heart of the transformation.