MUMBAI: Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar and Sri Lanka’s spin bowling wizard Muttiah Muralitharan have been named the Greatest Of All Time (G.O.A.T) batsman and bowler respectively in Tests of the 21st century.
The picks were made by a 50-member jury put together by Star Sports, India’s leading sports broadcaster, ahead of the ICC World Test Championship final.
While Tendulkar left behind the likes of Jacques Kallis, Steve Smith and Ricky Ponting, Muralitharan was pipped legends Shane Warne, Dale Steyn and Glenn McGrath.
Tendulkar, who called time on his illustrious Test career in 2013, notched up 15,921 runs at a phenomenal average of 53.78. Muralitharan, on the other hand, took 800 Test wickets and remains the highest wicket-taker in the longest format.
Speaking on Star Sports’ show Cricket Live, during the ICC World Test Championship final, former English cricket batsman and captain Nasser Hussain said of tendulkar: “There are some great candidates and any of these (GOAT nominees) would be worthy winners. I mean, it’s not just the stats between those hundreds you get. I think it’s sometimes too driven by stats. This occasion has shown it – here today in the final – it’s about how you handle pressure; how you cope with pressure. Also, an ambassador for the game, Sachin, was a great ambassador for cricket from India. When he speaks, people listen.”
Former Indian batsman VVS Laxman lavished praise on Muralitharan: “I was privileged to be against all these greats of the game. Steyn, for someone who could swing the ball, not only the conventional swing but also the reverse swing, used to suffocate you and get you out. The presence of Shane Warne had on the cricket field was just unbelievable. But for me, it has been Muttiah Muralitharan – the greatest of all time bowler of the 21st century – because he is one spinner who troubled all the batsmen around the world, not only in Sri Lanka, not only in the subcontinent conditions but apart from Australia, everywhere in the world. He has been the greatest of all time. It is not only about statistics, and also not just the number of wickets. He has got 800 Test wickets is a big achievement, the way he bamboozled batsmen. I could see the fear in the eyes of the batsmen when facing Muralitharan.”
To celebrate historic feats in Test cricket, Star Sports strung together a mammoth activity to pick the Greatest Of All Time (G.O.A.T) of the 21st century in Tests from among Batsmen, Bowlers, All-rounders and Captains. The winners were chosen by an elite 50-member jury, which comprised of legends of the game like Sunil Gavaskar, Ian Bishop, Harbhajan Singh, Shane Watson, Scott Styris, Gautam Gambhir among others, renowned sports journalists and coaches. Star Sports also provided the fans with an opportunity to vote for their G.O.A.T.s’ through a Twitter fan poll, that was held between 15th and 17th June 2021. To ensure complete transparency, the broadcaster followed a stringent category-wise selection procedure. All the statistics considered for the nominees are from or after January 1, 2000, only.
