The great batsman Sachin Tendulkar’s glory continues even after 8 years of retirement. Little Master Tendulkar has been voted the greatest Test batsman of the 21st century. Master Blaster got tough competition from former Sri Lankan player Kumar Sangakkara. Sachin and Sangakkara got equal marks but the jury members voted more in favor of the Indian player. Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the ongoing World Test Championship between India and New Zealand, announced this on Saturday. Star Sports took a unique initiative to select the greatest player of the 21st century in Test cricket ahead of the WTC final.
One player will be selected from Star Sports in four categories namely batsman, bowler, all-rounder and captain. The batsmen category included Sachin Tendulkar, Steven Smith, Kumar Sangakkara and Jacques Kallis. Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, Dale Steyn and Glenn McGrath are named in the bowling. Jacques Kallis, Ben Stokes, Andrew Flintoff and Ravichandran Ashwin will be selected in the all-rounder category. Steve Waugh, Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting and Virat Kohli have been nominated in the captain’s category. Star Sports has also constituted a 50-member jury for this.
The jury includes veteran sportspersons like Sunil Gavaskar, Ian Bishop, Harbhajan Singh, Shane Watson, Scott Styris, Gautam Gambhir along with senior sports journalists, analysts and anchors from across the globe.
There are many records in the name of Sachin in international cricket. This batsman has scored 15921 runs in 200 test matches with the help of 51 centuries. He is the highest run scorer in the longest format of cricket. Sachin has 100 centuries recorded in international cricket. At the same time, Jacques Kallis is at number three in Test cricket with 13289 runs with 45 centuries. Kumar Sangakkara, who has scored 38 centuries, has scored 12400 runs in 134 Test matches.