Sachin Tendulkar voted best Test player of 21st century in Cricket Australia fans' poll
Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar has been voted as the best Test player of the 21st century in a fans’ poll conducted by Cricket Australia (CA) on their official website. With 23% of the votes, Tendulkar is well ahead of second-placed Kumar Sangakkara, who managed to get 14% of the votes.
Tendulkar, in his illustrious 24-year international career with a record 200 Tests to his name, scored a colossal 15921 runs at an average of 53.78. After the turn of the millennium, Tendulkar scored 10080 runs from 127 Tests at an equally impressive 52.22 with 29 of his 51 Test centuries coming in this period.
Making up the rest of the top five are Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis, all of whom made significant contributions in the success that their teams achieved during this period.
Surprisingly, however, Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, two of the greatest spin bowlers the game has ever seen, find themselves in the 7th ?and 9th ?positions having only got 9% and 3% of the votes respectively.
Top 10 Test players of the 21st ?century according to a CA poll
| Rank | Player | Country | % of votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sachin Tendulkar | IND | 23 |
| 2 | Kumar Sangakkara | SL | 14 |
| 3 | Adam Gilchrist | AUS | 13 |
| 4 | Ricky Ponting | AUS | 11 |
| 5 | Jacques Kallis | SA | 11 |
| 6 | AB de Villiers | SA | 10 |
| 7 | Shane Warne | AUS | 9 |
| 8 | Glenn McGrath | AUS | 5 |
| 9 | Muttiah Muralitharan | SL | 3 |
| 10 | Dale Steyn | SA | 1 |