Gautam Gambhir ( pronunciation (help·info); born 14 October 1981) is an Indian cricketer. A left-handed batsman, he made his One Day International debut for India in 2003, and played his first Test the following year. Gambhir had been a prolific run-scorer in domestic cricket with an average of over 50 but his two successive double-hundreds in 2002 (one of them against the visiting Zimbabweans) made him a strong contender for India's opening slot.

Gambhir became only the fourth Indian batsman to score a double century in a tour game at home; the previous three being Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Sachin Tendulkar. He is the only Indian batsman to score more than 300 runs in four consecutive Test series. He is also the only Indian, and one of only four international cricketers, to have scored five hundreds in five consecutive test matches. On July 2009, for a period of ten days he was the number one ranked batsman in ICC Test rankings.

Gambhir attended Modern School, New Delhi. Gambhir was selected in 2000 for the first intake of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. He married Natasha Jain, who belongs to a prominent business family, on 28 October 2011.

Sourav Chandidas Ganguly ( pronunciation (help·info); born 8 July 1972) is a former Indian cricketer, and captain of the Indian national team. Born into an affluent family, Ganguly was introduced into the world of cricket by his elder brother Snehasish. He is regarded as one of India's most successful captains in modern times. He started his career by playing in state and school teams. Currently, he is the 5th highest run scorer in One Day Internationals (ODIs) and was the 3rd person in history to cross the 10,000 run landmark, after Sachin Tendulkar and Inzamam Ul Haq. Wisden ranked him the sixth greatest one day international batsman of all time, next to Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Dean Jones and Michael Bevan.

After a series of playing in different Indian domestic tournaments such as the Ranji and Duleep trophies, Ganguly got his big-break while playing for India on their tour of England. He scored 131 runs and cemented his place in the Indian team. Ganguly's place in the team was assured after successful performances in series against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Australia, winning the Man of the Match awards. In the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he was involved in a partnership of 318 runs with Rahul Dravid, which remains the highest overall partnership score in the World Cup tournament history.

Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi (Urdu: صاحبزادہ محمد شاہد خان آفریدی) (born 1 March 1980 in Khyber Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan), popularly known as Shahid Afridi (Pashto: شاهد ‏افریدی), is a Pakistani cricketer. Between 1996 and 2012, Afridi played 27 Tests, 334 One Day Internationals, and 46 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) for the Pakistani national team. He made his ODI debut on 2 October 1996 against Kenya and his Test debut on 22 October 1998 against Australia.

He is known for his aggressive batting style, and holds the record for the fastest ODI century which he made in his first international innings, as well as scoring 32 runs in a single over, the second highest scoring over ever in an ODI. He also holds the distinction of having hit the most number of sixes in the history of ODI cricket. Afridi considers himself a better bowler than batsman, and has taken 48 Test wickets and over 300 in ODIs. Currently Afridi is the leading wicket taker in the Twenty20 format taking 53 wickets from 43 matches.

Kamran Akmal (Urdu: کامران اکمل; born 13 January 1982) is a Pakistani cricketer who has played Tests, ODIs and T20Is for Pakistan as a wicket-keeper.

He is a quick-scoring batsman and a wicket-keeper, who has achieved 6 centuries in Test innings. However, his first century was vital - his 109 from the number eight position at Mohali, coming in with Pakistan in a lead of 39 against India in the first Test, ensured that the visitors could draw the match. His form against the touring English in 2005 made him one of the most important players in the team. Naturally, he is a batsman that plays lower down the order but has sometimes opened in both Test and One-day cricket. As an opener he has scored two back to back centuries in ODIs against England. Coming in lower down the order in Test matches, he played one memorable innings. He saved Pakistan from a score of 39/6, scoring a century, to a competitive 245 which helped Pakistan win the match and the series.

His batting was highly productive in early 2006 as he scored seven international hundreds within the space of 6 months. Since his tour of England in Summer 2006 however his batting form dwindled and steadily become worse. His wicket-keeping also worsened and dropped many catches on both the England tour and on a tour to South Africa in early 2007. He then scored an international hundred in the Bangladeshi tour of Pakistan in 2008. He later moved to have some injuries and did not play for some days but later he was again brought into the team.

Shane Robert Watson (born 17 June 1981) is an Australian cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-handed fast medium bowler. He mainly bats as an opener in international cricket, although he does not do so domestically.

He debuted for the Australian cricket team in 2002, playing his first One Day International against South Africa. While he has become a regular member of the one-day squad, Watson has played few Test Matches for Australia, having debuted against Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 2005. Despite being allocated to be Australia's designated Test all-rounder, injuries have often prevented him from claiming his position in the Test team. However, from the second half of 2009, Watson has acted as Australian Test opening batsman, along with Simon Katich.

Watson was awarded the 2010 Allan Border Medal and again in 2011, becoming the second player (after Ricky Ponting) to win back-to back Allan Border Medals. Watson's wife Lee, whom he married on 3 June 2010, is a Fox Sports Australia presenter.