1) Mark Greatbatch
Without Mark Greatbatch, there was no Sanath Jayasuriya, Virender Sehwag or Adam Gilchrist. Greatbatch did not only change the course of the 1992 World Cup, he changed the ODI paradigm. Greatbatch pioneered pinch-hitting in One Day International cricket by batting aggressively in the opening ten overs of the ICC Cricket World Cup, charging pace bowlers and hitting over the infield. For this innovative tactics New Zealand employed successfully during the round-robin stage to knock-out stage in 1992 World Cup.