Australian website cricket.com.au more than a month ago started a fan poll that would decide cricket’s ODI Greatest Player of All Time (GOAT) taking into consideration votes from fans from all across the world.
The poll was designed in a knock-out fashion akin to the Grand Slam tennis tournament as they selected 64-of the best players in the 50- over format to go head-to-head in knockout fashion.
The editorial team of the website selected the group of players and grouped them into batsmen, bowlers and wicket keeper/all-rounders.
And the 40-day program has finally got its result and it was not what everyone was expecting.
Sri Lankan batting legend Kumar Sangakkara is now the overwhelming fans’ favorite as derived after an exhaustive online polling process and won the ODI Greatest Player of All Time award.
What is more shocking is the fact that the left-handed batsman won the final battling against the Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar. It is understood that Sangakkara got an overwhelming lead over his Indian counterpart on his way to the title.
In ODI cricket, Sangakkara has a great record scoring 14,234 runs in 404 games. He also has 25 centuries to his name and retired from the game at an average of 41.98. However, Sangakkara beat the only player who has bettered his numbers in ODI cricket in Sachin Tendulkar.
The duo who reached the finals of this knock-out polls, did not have an easy route there.
With top class names all around, Sachin Tendulkar got the better of Rohit Sharma, Michael Bevan, and Saeed Anwar before setting up arguably the most interesting battle late in the competition.
Sachin Tendulkar had to compete with Sir Vivian Richards to move to the semi-final and after a lot of discussions and millions of votes, the Master Blaster of India got the better of the original Master Blaster of the Caribbean. He then was drawn against Sanath Jayasurya who was blown away as the Indian genius reached the finals.
However, he eventually lost out to Sangakkara who dumped the likes of MS Dhoni, Adam Gilchrist, and AB de Villiers before winning the polls against Shane Warne and Imran Khan in the quarter and the semi-finals respectively.
You can check the results of the polls here.
Other interesting match-ups included a fight between Aussie legends Michael Hussey and Michael Bevan where the new generation took over to help Hussey win the battle.
However, the experience of Wasim Akram took him over Mitchell Starc while Chris Gayle got the better of fellow hard-hitter Desmond Haynes.
Do you think Sangakkara deserved the ODI GOAT title more than the Master Blaster from India?