Melbourne: India's legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar has been voted the 'Best Test player' of the 21st century in an online poll conducted by Cricket Australia's website.
The former India skipper got the highest number of votes to emerge on top of the list of the 100 best Test players since 2000, in a poll conducted by cricket.com.au.
Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara received the second highest votes, followed by Adam Gilchrist of Australia in the third position.
Currently the 'Icon' of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians, Tendulkar earned 23 per cent of votes, with more than 16,000 fans participating in the survey. Sangakkara got 14 per cent votes after CA released the top-100 Test players' list since 2000 on its website.
Tendulkar, who retired from international cricket in 2013 after playing his 200th Test, is the lone Indian player to be figuring in the top-10 list, while there are four Australian, three South African and two Sri Lankan cricketers.
"After 10 days of counting down and no end of deliberations, cricket.com.au released its final countdown of the 100 best Test players since 2000 a couple of days ago. Readers debated the top 10, just as you did players 11 through 100, but we also provided an opportunity for you to decide your No.1 Test player of the century," CA's website stated.
"Tendulkar, the little master who remains an iconic figure in the sport, was a runaway winner, jumping four places from where cricket.com.au had him placed, while batting giants Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis were separated on countback, with the Australian just edging out his Proteas counterpart," it further said.
The 42-year-old Tendulkar, who is the only batsman to have hit 100 international centuries, holds the record for highest run scorer in both Tests and One-Day Internationals.
The Poll result: 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%.
