Former South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis was chosen as the Greatest Of All Time (G.O.A.T) all-rounder and Australia’s Steve Waugh was named the Greatest Of All Time (G.O.A.T) Test captain of the 21st century through a poll conducted by Star Sports during the ICC World Test Championship final.
Steve Waugh, who captained Australia in 57 Tests and won 41, surpassed the likes of superstar Virat Kohli, Graeme Smith, and his own countrymate Ricky Ponting in the poll for the title.
Jacques Kallis, who has 13289 runs and 292 wickets in 166 Tests, left behind the likes of Ben Stokes, Andrew Flintoff, and Ravichandran Ashwin to bag the honor.
Sachin Tendulkar voted as 'Greatest Men's Test Batsman' of 21st century by commentators and fans
Speaking on Star Sports' show 'Cricket Live', during the ICC WTC final, former India player Sanjay Bangar spoke on Steve Waugh and said: "If as leaders, you have the opportunity to actually dictate the way the culture of the team is and the outcomes that the team derives, then, in that case, all of them (nominees) were in quest of excellence.
So is Virat, I do not doubt that he'll end up being probably captaining more than any other captain in the history of the game, but that's in the future. As far as those numbers are concerned, I have opted for Steve Waugh, because winning 15 or 16 Test matches on the trot, is a phenomenal feat. Yes, everybody else has tasted that success. But for me, it has to be Steve Waugh.”
With regards to Jacques Kallis’ ability as the all-rounder in the Test arena, India’s VVS Laxman praised the Proteas player and said that for him, Kallis was equal to Sir Garfield Sobers, who is considered to be the greatest all-rounder of all-time.
"It's a very simple take here because he (Jacques Kallis) is just a fabulous player. He was a contender in the GOAT batsman category and then, when you see it, in the bowling category, he has more than 200 wickets and then in the slips, like Shane mentioned, to take so many catches and so many match & series-winning performance.
I have heard so many stories from Sunny Bhai and all those great players about Gary Sobers. So, in my generation the players who I've played against or who I saw -- I think he (Jacques Kallis) is equal to Gary Sobers. He is just a phenomenal cricketer," said Laxman.
Muttiah Muralitharan voted as the greatest Test bowler of 21st century
Star Sports organized an enormous 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 in order to celebrate historic feats in Test cricket.
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, among others, renowned sports journalists and coaches.
Sachin Tendulkar was named the Greatest Of All Time (G.O.A.T) Test batsman and Muttiah Muralitharan was named the Greatest Of All Time (G.O.A.T) Test bowler, previously.
(ANI inputs)
