Why Sachin is great because he has improved the game's status in India than any other country. When we were kids, we never wanted to be Kallis or Warne, We wanted to be Sachin, even no other Indian cricketer. This is magic of Sachin. I know by potential Kallis is way better complete cricketer than sachin. I dont feel Warne stand any near to these two. Bradman is cricketer of last century

Of the three nominated, Jacques Kallis - because he did it with both bat and ball - should have been the winner. But with a list of judges that includes the likes of Ed Cowan (???), Daryl Cullinan, Mark Butcher, Ed Smith and Heath Streak, the right outcome was always going to be unlikely.

Seriously, if it was about the Batsman of the generation, then I would definitely consider Sachin to hold this award. But as far as Cricketer of the generation is concerned; how could you miss Mr. Kallis? The one who have the second most test hundreds. The man who himself is a cricket field whether it's about batting, bowling or fielding? He was the man to hold the award for cricketer of the generation. He has everything to be a cricketer, he wasn't just a batsman, he was an all-rounder or I would say Cricketer of the Cricket!

It is still a proven fact that no one can ever make 400* or 501* like Lara did. Yes tendulkar deserved the award, but you cannot criticise other legends: Ponting (AUS), Bradman (AUS), Murali (SL), Warne (AUS),Jayasuriya (SL), Marshall (WI), Ambrose (WI), Kallis (SA), Fleming (NZ), Flintoff (ENG), and Dravid (IND). Cricket is not about winning or losing but its the passion and desire for the game which is what all of the legends had. Everyone has their ups and downs because no one is perfect so lets just leave this matter alone and think as smart people to ignore all arguments and celebrate the cricketer of the generation of the year for now , congrats to Sachin Tendulkar and all other nominees.

Cricket-fan you make me laugh. Did you really say Tendulkar is the greatest cricketer of all time. He scored 51 tons right. If Bradman played as many tests as Tendulkar he would have scored approx. 110 hundreds. Tendulkar scored almost 16000 runs. Bradman would have scored around 60000 runs if he played 200 tests. What planet are you from?

the jury includes the highest percentage of indians and indians by nature support their own.

Sanath and Murali should be there on the list

SACHIN TENDULKAR - Cricketer of the Century.

Would be interesting to see how many votes each of the top contenders got. It would be even more interesting to see who voted for whom! The voting panel contains to many Indian names to have any credibility. The Indian cricket 'gravy train' provides too many people a livelihood. Not many critics, cricketers and commentators would dare express their true opinion.

Ironically, as cricinfo reported 2 weeks ago, 'Retired South African allrounder Jacques Kallis would not rate Sachin Tendulkar as the best batsman he has played against but said the Indian legend has "tremendously" helped in taking the game forward by playing with the right spirit throughout his illustrious career. Asked who are his toughest opponents, Kallis said, "Seamer: Wasim Akram. He had the ability to swing the ball both ways. Spinner: Shane Warne. He controlled the game, he attacked, defended. Batsman: Brian Lara.' "

event-horizon Maybe looking at it another way, have you considered that Murali bowled the vast majority of his sides' overs, whereas Warne got to follow the likes of McGrath, Lee and Gillespie. To simply cite the number of wickets taken doesn't take into account the circumstances. Interesting to hear a lot of pro cricketers talk about Warne being the greatest ever - you don't tend to hear Muralitharan spoken about in the same regard. Un-comprehensible? Not if you actually think about it...

Sachin-vBatting, kallis - Allrounder and should have been murali - bowling, NO TWO QUESTIONS about that. some people say LARA, PONTING should get it. let me explain, we have to consider specific areas when granting this honor not only one aspect. NUMBER OF MATCHES/CONSISTENCY/ NUMBER OF RUNS AND GENTLEMEN CRICKETER. sachin 200 tests (51 centuries, avg 53), 463 ODI (49 centuries, avg 44) Ponting 168 tests (41 centuries, avg 51) 375 ODI (30 centuries avg 42) Lara 131 tests (34 centuries, avg 52) 299 ODI (19 centuries, avg 40) according to the stats the honor of playing the most international matches goes to sachin. the most hundreds, and the highest average as well. this award is given for the cricketer of the generation, so for this 20 years between 1993 to 2013, Lara had played 14 years, Ponting 18 years and sachin all 20 years, this is another reason why sachin is considered over the other two. spirit if the game - sachin gets a nod ahead as well.

So Murali can't even make the top three.. JOKE.

Posted by රෝෂිත චමීර on (March 13, 2014, 10:19 GMT) "sanath jayasuriya make 13000 runs & 369 wickets in ODI so that he would be the best allrounder, not kallis"

Because you're watching only SL matches, maybe it's time to take a look at Kallis' test record.

I see in terms of Performance Kallis and Tendulkar being nominated since states wise there isn't much parallels to them if you consider the entire era.

Warne over Mural is UN-comprehensible since Murali is the first ever to get 800 Test wickets [maybe only 1 ever] in the history of the game. He has taken wickets over faster pitches. How about the 16 wickets in a test match against England in their backyard.

Warne is only become a bowler he was due to support of other Australian pacers but Mural most time had to do it single-handedly with very limited support from paces.

Whoever thinks Warne's off field charisma is better than Murali needs have a reality check. Sportsmanship/character Murali always heaps ahead of Warne in all areas including cricketing stats.

Bottom line I don't have no issues with Kallis and Tendulkar in the nominations but Warne ahead of Mural is blatant injustice. This goes to say plane is not level when it comes to fair nominations.

Cricinfo: please publish.

Totally agreed by what cricaadict says....Lara and Ponting are way big player than tendulkar.

Totally agreed by what cricaadict says....Lara and Ponting are way big player than tendulkar.

Whenever people talk about Lara, they will always speak about his highest score I think that is the only major batting record Lara had, and the only major batting record Sachin missed. All other major batting records goes to Sachin.

Also Lara is a very good test batsman vs Sachin tendulkar a complete batsman (tests, odis and not to mention t20s in ipl and others)

I saw many vidoes of both Lara and Sachin, Lara is very very good at spin, but see the videos of Lara/Sachin against Shoiab Akthar, Wasim Akram, Waquar younis and last Steave waugh. Lara was hit and fell down on the ground many times(so called elegance and Technic?), which I never for Sachin

So Lara just dummies the spinners and accumulated the big scores, but he was real zero against REAL fast bowlers. Where as Sachin equally good vs REAL spinners and REAL fast bowlers.

Sachin longevity has overshadowed his destructive batting is the fact everyone should know.

WHAT ABOUT MURALI ???? OH GOD.. we respect sachin and we bow to his name anywhere.. But Murali contributed so so much more to take the Sri Lanka to the place that they are sitting today.. Taken absolute underdogs and made world champions of them.

Please people please respect this great cricketer who gave us a smile and a cheer when all Sri lankans are suffering from the stress of an on going war.. You are our champion cricketer not for a generation but for thousands of years... MURALI The great...

We all need to respect Sachin Tendulkar's achievements. His 100 International Centuries will remain unmatched in cricket. He deserved the award. He played the game in the right spirit and inspired a generation of cricketers and millions of people around the globe.

Some people are saying "He was overrated". Really? Tendulkar scored 15,921 Test runs, 18,426 ODI runs and 100 centuries. His records are exceptional. As I said earlier, we all need to respect Tendulkar's achievements. He is the greatest cricketer all of time ahead of Bradman, Lara, Dravid. And how much more does one have to do to prove one's skills and achievements.

@Gary Eric Idk Sookdeo... I'm with you on this one. He was the most feared batsman of his Generation. He dominated the most feared bowling attacks in world cricket and breaking records in the process and not to even be mentioned more than boggles the mind.

Kallis surely, the quintessential all rounder. Could make an argument for any of those 3 though, as well as for Lara or Murali.

mr cricaadicts tendulkar won macthes for india from 1990 to 2013 .for ur knowledge 1996 world cup 2003 and 1998 dubai 2013 if not ask australian greats any bowler

Kallis Hands down. He offered much more to his side than either of the other 2, we won't see his like again for a long while

It simply cannot be justified how a man who has broken the world record twice , and not the mention the ONLY player ever to reach 400 in test cricket and the ONLY player to reach 500 in first class cricket is left out of this list . Not to mention the class in which it was done , not to mention the fearless batting and don't forget the fact that the world's best bowler in his ear would chose to bowl to anyone but him ...... doesn't this leave a lot to be considered on how BRIAN LARA has been left out ???

As a neutral party I would say sachin is the most over rated cricketer of all time.I have respect for him and he also a great player but he is not a match winner like shewag,yuvi even kohli. He score bulk of runs but he is not capable of winning matches single handedly like other opening batsman can do ex: Gilchrist ,Jayasuriya,Gayle ,Shewag etc.Any way reason for indian teams success majorly due to players like ganguly ,shewag who accompanied him continuously through his career allowing him to hold one end and score bulk of his runs.I remember india become very unsuccessfull 1994 -1999 period even sachin is in great foam.But after player like yuvi,shewag,dhoni came to the scene india become best.so this is the ugly truth for people who says "sachin is god of cricket"

Lara was a great ODI batsmen when he batted 1, 2 or 3. But he often went down the order and batted alot at 5 and even 6, so didnt have many chances to craft centuries.

Listen, Kallis isn't a great batsman. His strike rate is too low, he is dull and he rarely imposed himself upon the bowler.

Murali led sri lanka to a world cup win. Lets put that in context. In 1996 sri lanka were the second lowest ranked test nation. Thats equivalent to bangladesh today. If Shakib were to bowl bangladesh to the 2015 world cup title and managed to finish his career with a test bowling ave of 22 while single handedly carrying the bangla attack throughout his career, in so far as to lead them to become a force to be reckoned with in all formats of the game would he not merit a place in the final three of this award for the sheer weight of his contribution? Well that is what Murali has done. Taken absolute underdogs and made world champions of them. Warne in contrast had the luxury of the best bowling unit in the world supporting him and his average was still 25. In context, more times than not Magrath et al remove top four or more, warne bowls to middle and lower order. Vaas removes one, maybe two early and Murali is expected to fetch the rest of the load. - from a Guyanese(West Indies)

(contd from comment below) Hence, my picks would be Tendulkar, Lara, Ponting, Warne, Murali and Akram - because these guys dominated the opposition in whatever their skill was. From these, I would go have to go with Tendulkar because he was the most dominant and consistent across all conditions he played in. Lara did not do very well in ODIs. Sangakkara and Murali didn;t do well outside the subcontinent etc. Ponting, Akram and Warne are closest to Tendulkar, but I would either give it to Tendulkar or Akram because they were the most consistent and dominant in their fields under all conditions.

So I have been reading these comments and no one seem to even mention a certain man who as broken the world record twice for most runs in in a test match, over 10 double centuries and and 500+ runs in a county match. Now if this man is not in the top 2 most destructive player of this generation and Sachin is then something is wrong.

Not to mention flair, as Brian Lara is all about style and entertainment. Stats doesn't play on the field and Sachin average is not the highest in world cricket.

There are only two eras in cricket so far. BRADMAN era and SACHIN era. All the other cricketers are foot prints in these two eras.

First of all, the 3 top contenders deserve to be there. Besides the weight of runs or wickets behind them, their contribution to the game is all the more significant in many ways. Tendulkar not only attracted the crowd with his attacking instincts and a wide range of shots, but he was also a purist's delight when it came to the technical intricacies of batting. Warne was and will remain the most versatile spinner ever. Add to that his competitive instincts, his ability to change the course of a match in a matter of few deliveries, and of course a heretical charisma, you have an absolute champion. Kallis was step above anyone in his generation as a batting all-rounder and on his day could give the best in the 3 facets of the game (batting, bowling, and fielding) a good run of their money. While it is difficult to pick 1 from the 3 giants of the game, Tendulkar just took the game of cricket to the next level with his delightful stroke play against the best of the bowlers.

When you try to rate the best cricketer over an entire generation, there are only a couple of criteria that you need to look at and those are: 1. How consistent the player (bowler or batsman) was over those years. 2. How dominant that players was over those years. Now, how consistent a player is can be gauged through the averages. How dominant the player was is a lot harder to gauge. For e.g Kallis had pretty good averages in both batting and bowling and hence you would rate him above Tendulkar -- but he lacked the domination factor. He never actually dominated with either his batting or his bowling. It does not matter if he was the best all-rounder - if he is not dominating in either batting or bowling, he loses out on the second count. Hence, my picks would be Tendulkar, Lara, Ponting, Warne, Murali and Akram - because these guys dominated the opposition in whatever their skill was. From these, I would go have to go with Tendulkar because he was the most dominant and consistent acros

Warne should win in my opinion, He was the greatest player in the greatest team of this generation.

You need 20 wickets to win test matches, warne could win a match in 5 overs, none of the other too could. Bowlers win matches.

Kallis is a legend that can be compared only with Sir Garfield Sobers. Kallis is the only player to have a test triple and an ODI triple (10,000 runs 100 wickets 100 catches). His Man of the Match awards for test are a staggering 23 in only 166 matches compared to Tendulker's 14 in 200 matches or Warne' 17 in 145 test.

Unfortunately Kallis is not in big three like Sachin or Warne, and I would understand if Sachin makes it, but wont understand if Warne makes it.

If BRADMAN not there, NO competition for TENDULKAR, Remaining all are Second graded.It May hurt some other fans..But it is true. But i am a Big Fan of Rahul Dravid. Still i can say SACHIN and BRADMAN are top class...only they are.. no waughs..no laras...no dravids...no kallis..no pontings...no warnes...even no richards

i shall say only one thing the contenders should have been expanded .... like murali mc grath .... if these tree were selected then there should,not have been the jurry member from there country

there may have been angakaaraa or gilchirist as a keeper as well in the contenders not in jurry membs

Whoever is talking of Murali being ahead of Warne are just plain SL fans and not of cricket.

Warne was an influential player and he won matches on all pitches and not just SL pitches.

Compare their average on non sub-continent pitches or atleast outside home country and you will know the truth.

Plus Warne had that magic and charisma about to be a nominee for cricketer of the generation.

However, nominee list doesnt matter matter much in terms of final result,. Because Sachin is only going to win the same. And he truly an thoroughly deserves the same.

Thanks ESPNCricinfo team.

Anurag

Good joke. Scoring first double hundred in one day matches is run accumulation? Sachin's longevity in the game overshadowed his destructive batting is the fact. Sachin and Sananth jayasuriya are the only destructive batsman that bowlers fears the most in 90s. Then comes gilchrist, Chris gayle and sehawag. And Kallis, sangakkara, Dravid etc are your so called run accumulators

well....all above mentioned posted wrote truly and i am with them by all means.....

Murali was named the "best bowler ever" by Wisden in 2002. Warne being named ahead of him yet again in these sorts of comparisons is just preposterous.Looking at the same usual panel of suspects, this is obviously no surprise.

You have the ICC cricket awards, and Murali is nominated for the Cricketer of the year, yet he doesn't get named in the test team and is overlooked for Mr Warne around the same time period.

This man holds the record for both forms of the game. Give me a break, if you don't want to acknowledge his achievements, please remove him from the record books once and for all.

My vote goes to Tendulkar....

Bit disappointed... Murali would have been selected among "First Three" ESPNCRICINFO'S CRICKETER OF THE GENERATION DUE TO THIS:

MURALI's Bowling averages Mat Wkts Ave 5w 10 Tests 133 800 22.72 67 22 ODIs 350 534 23.08 10 0

WARNE's Bowling averages Mat Wkts Ave 5w 10 Tests 145 708 25.41 37 10 ODIs 194 293 25.73 1 0

It's a no-brainer. Kallis takes it all day. Better average than Sachin & then just look at what he did with the ball & in the slips! Total cricketer! Alongside Sobers he is arguably the greatest cricketer to ever play the game!

Shane warne was the first bowler to 700 Test wickets but murali is the one and only 800 test wicket taker .In Odi 500+ then we can see how Judgers goes for warne and Sachin ? statistics follow by matches , Runs , Average and Wickets kallis Test ( 166 13289 55.37 wk - 292) ODIs(325 11574 44.86 wk-273 ) sachin Test ( 200 15921 53.78 wk -46 ) ODIs(463 18426 44.83 wk -154 )

Who was the great player Indian's super hero Sachin or silent player Kallis ? It is same senario to Warne to murali too . Jury is not perfect or balance ?

Sachin is not even considered the best cricketer at any phase of the last 20 years apart from the Indian fans, let alone be nominated for cricketer of the generation. Warne, Kallis, Steve Waugh, Viv Richards, Alan Donald, Bradman, Ambrose, Border, Arjuna Ranatunga, Imran Khan, Murali have contributed more to add character to this game than Sachin. I see Sachin as a sole accumulator of personal milestones, which is easy, when one overlooks the priority of his team winning. That's why his records inflate, yet the percentage of his teams losses in his scoring matches are highl. If this is a considered purely on the stats, he would be a contender, for he has accumulated over 24 years. What if a player like Kallis, Sangakkara who already have better test average than Sachin play for 24 years?? Then comes the fitness factor. Hats off...Sachin is well ahead on fitness that makes him a contender for the fittest athlete in the game. Not for the cricketer of the generation for sure.

The award is for the cricketer of the generation, not just test cricketer of the generation. That means one day cricket also has to be included. With that in consideration, Sachin wins hands down. Sachin has been equally phenomenal in both test and ODI cricket for the last two decades. Kallis is n't considered a great in ODI's as he is in tests and Warne is n't known that much for his limited overs exploits. Whereas Sachin is on top in both the formats and by quite a margin. Sachin also has 154 ODI wickets to his name. Tendulkar should be the winner for being on the top of both formats for over 20 years.

Well, we see more Indians in the judging panel - hence, it will probably be Sachin. Will all due respect to a great cricketer, it was the Indians who hyped Sachin up. Just like Warne for Aussies. Kallis on the other hand is a silent killer. Anyways,, I wonder which generation we are talking of as Sir Viv Richards is kept out and the likes of Kuma Sangakkara is in the judging panel.

It has to & should go to Kallis for his staggering & consistant allround performances throughout his career.

BUT, with the BCCI in total control of the cricketing world, the award will automatically be shifted in favor of Sachin Tendulkar.

Here is a thought to make the best out of this silly idea. Remove all the judges who are from the countries of the selected 3. Let a neutral panel decide the winner. Come-on, who does you the 12 Indian judges, will vote for? It is a no brainer. As in any fair contest, first let us know the criteria for selection so that it is not purely subjective. Otherwise it is like selecting the best human of the world which will be a matter of pure subjectivity and individual opinion. Let the criteria not be partial and converging towards one obvious player. Otherwise this currently looks like a tailor-made situation to select one individual and we all know who he is. This is presently more like an early April 1st joke.

English batting in late 90's & early 2000's is the worst in this generation! Shane warne succeed mostly against that batting lineup! & he had the luxury to be part of one f the best bowling attacks in the world.& Murali is still effective! but warne ? both started their career in same period! Truth is Murali is way way better than warne.Warne is not even in top 3 in my list! my top 5: Murali, Mcgrath, Ambrose, Akram & warne

Kallis easily...the only aspect of tendulkar's game that Kallis doesn't match is the number of matches played. Tendulkar on the other hand doesn't have bowling stats to compare, so why is there even a debate?

Its really weird to see people suggesting Kallis should get the award since Sachin is a batsman and Warne is a bowler. Aren't batsmen and bowlers cricketers too? And the award is for "cricketer of the generation", not "allrounder of the generation".

Warne has to be dismissed from consideration for the simple fact that he is not the best spinner of his generation - Muttiah Muralitharan is!

I am actually disappointed that Adam Gilchrist was not on the shortlist, as he is comfortably the best wicket keeper of all time (though not the best batsman ever to keep wicket). He is certainly in my top 3 of the past generation, and I would have had Kallis-Gilchrist-Tendulkar as my 3.

As for who out of Kallis or Tendulkar, since Gilchrist has sadly been ignored, we have to consider that neither would make an All Time Test XI, but Tendulkar is perhaps closer to making it than Kallis is, as the gap between Kallis and Sobers is pretty large while the gap between Tendulkar and any of the past greats is quite low. While Kallis does have the batting average, he didn't bowl all that often, especially later on. Just simply for his longevity, I have to give it to Tendulkar. The best longevity since Jack Hobbs, who he was named after.

Jacques Kallis has carried the SA batting for more than a decade. He has scored runs and taken wickets all around the world. If its ''cricketer" and not "batsman" then Jacques is head and shoulders above anyone. Was dissapointed Murali didnt get in... his record wont be matched anytime soon...

When I was travelling around the South of India in 1997, where ever I went I met people who spoke no (or very little) English but after asking me 'coming from?' and I answered 'Australia' they would invariably reply 'Shane Warne, Shane Warne'. And that was way back then. He had a charisma that was almost mystical and he single handedly revived the lost art of leg spin bowling. Even when he wasn't taking wickets, he made everyone, spectators, batsmen, fielders, feel that a wicket was always imminent. His theatrical skills were the equal of his cricket skills, there will be others who will break records but there will never be another all round talent like Warney.

I am amazed that so many people here seem to think it's just about the numbers. Tendulkar would be the winner if this was about India, but as a genuinely generational cricketer for the world and taking into account the reach of cricket in this generation, it *has* to be the inimitable Shane Ketth Warne.

Everybody will have their opinions and all of them are deserving. Like many people, I agree Wasim Akram and Brian Lara should be included. People talk about stats between Kallis and Tendulkar but people often forget that Tendulkar never faced weak Indian bowling and Kallis never faced strong SA bowling. Tendulkar's average against Australia, England and SL is superior to Kallis. Kallis has a better average against Pak and that counts a lot. I feel Kallis and Dravid are of similar mould, perfect technique and defensive players who were aggressive at times but did not take the attack to the opposition like Tendulakar and Lara did.

I feel being Tendulkar is not easy in terms of meeting fans expectations and many cricketers appreciate him for that. Even Wasim and Waqar respect him as one of the best batsmen and would rate him higher than Kallis.

But Kallis brings the bowling dimension and as an all rounder, might be preferred.

Only If you are a batsman or bowler you need to worry about the particular things but only some can handle extra ordinary captain ,batsmen,bowler or feilder at a sametime but unfortunately this list copletely missed them.

Line up 22 cricketers of the last 20 years, you and your best mate have to pick two teams.

Kallis, Sachin, Dravid, S Waugh, G McGrath, Gilly, Warne, Lara, Murali, Flintoff, G Smith, Cook, Peiterson, Bell, Steyn, Ponting, Hayden, Hussey, Anderson, Lee, Boucher & Ambrose.

Who's your first pick?

@Ram2212 Dude, You need to check stats before replying..Lara has played 242 innings @ 1st, 2nd , 3rd & 4th positions out 289 innings with majority of the innings coming @ 3rd with 104 innings & 86 innings @ 4th!! Lara never won/took his team to the final unlike Sac who single handedly took India to the Final of WC-03 & also his performance in the WC matches wasn't that great....all in all Lara wasn't great ODI batsman & definitely not in the league of Sachin & Viv!!!

Without any doubt. this award must go to Kallis. If u compare with Tendulkar he is at par as a batsman. And anybody is willing to compare him as a all rounder then Sachin is far far behind. Even in the field of fielding He is far ahead of Sachin. I admit that we Indians are mad for Sachin but only sentiments must not come in the way as contrast to statistics because Cricket is a number game. Even Kallis has equalled Sachin in the area of Centuries He is only 6 behind him but has also played 28 less test and has scored his last century after declaring that he will retire from test cricket proves that he was able for more centuries whereas Sachin and BCCI had planned his last test in Mumbai against the weakest test side and even then he scored 72 runs despite of best wishes of all Indian Fans. But I still doubt that Kallis will be honoured with thisw award because the gang of Sachin `s fans will throw the award to Sachin. As a follower of cricket for last 45 years I rate Kallis the best

As an Indian, I believe it should be Kallis for the award. A lot of people are judging Tendulkar on his entire 24 year career instead of just his last 10. Yes, Tendulkar was under tremendous pressure during this last 10 and he has been outstanding but Kallis has been even more prolific with almost no dips in form and single-handedly winning matches in the period. Let's not forget that this is a man who has overtaken Dravid in terms of runs scored while still consistently bowling for South Africa over the years. As great as Shane Warne has been, I don't think he stands much chance in this three man race. Honestly, Muralitharan would have given a bigger push to Kallis and Tendulkar.

Unbelievable that Murali isnt even mentioned as he is the leading wicket taker in all forms of the game. Warne may have had charisma & whatnot but that doesn't get you wickets & the stats show you that. Sachins batting records are getting closer to be broken by kholi, sangakkara etc. but murali's records are untouchable at the moment. the current player who can catch up to murali is harbajan singh & even he has to take almost twice as much wickets & he isnt even in the indian team atm. so imo its extremely unfair & an insult to a man that had spent his entire career fending off critics for his bowling action & carried the burden of an entire bowling attack for decades but still gets ignored because he hails from a small island of 22million people. sad indeed.

Test team of this generation 1st 2nd 3rd

1. Hayden - Amla - Sehwag

2. GreameSmith - Langer - Cook

3. Ponding - Dravid - Sangakara

4. Sachin - Kallis - Pieterson

5. Lara - SteveWaugh - Chanderpaul

6. Hussey - Devillers - Laxman

7. Gilchrist - Dhoni - boucher

8. Warne - Muralidharan - Kumble

9. WasimAkram - WaqarYounis - Walsh

10. Mcgrath - AlanDonald - Anderson

11. Steyn - BredLee - Akthar 11. Steyn - BredLee - Akthar

This is a joke. Agreed that SRT , Warne are right up there. But Kaalis ??? When is the last time Kaalis made an impact to the outcome of the match singlehandedly. He is an innings builder who contribute to team's cause. He is not like SRT,warne, Murali or Lara or Inzy who have changed the match on their own. pained to see Lara out of the final 3. May be he was player of century.

@ITJOBSUCKS - You need to check before making statements. Lara was the one of the fastest batsmen to reach 4000, 5000, 6000, 7000, 8000 ODI runs. His record becoming normal the day he started giving youngsters chance by batting down, unlike SRT.

But, award is to be given to SRT in all sense as he is the single most influential cricketer of his generation. Period.

Looking at this result, all I could say is this Jury has done a BAD job.

Its going to be sour grapes for JK and SW and a few who commented against SRT

Ask the players who they would least like to play against. Warne, Kallis or Sachin. Sachin is truely brilliant but most teams would say that even if he gets his average(50odd) they could still win. Kallis would get 50 and a few wickets and they could still win, Warne changed the game. Even when teams were on top when Warne came on everything would change. He not only revitalised spin bowling, he revitalised Test Cricket. Drawn test matches were a thing of the past.

it should be given to a player who has influenced the game a lot.. his records, his behavior inside and outside the field all should be taken into account. in that way it should be Tendulkar. cricket became so famous in India just because of Tendulkar. There are many situation where, when sachin gets out people off the TV even if India is in a winning stage.. and the pressure he handles is enormous. at the present age many people have started playing cricket just to become like Sachin.. which includes many big international players.. so in my opinion it should Sachin Tendulkar

Kallis over Lara?! It is a farce. Looks like Cricinfo takes Statsguru way too seriously.

With all that cricket money which is coming out of India, I'll say they have every right to have 11 members in the jury. Pak, SL, SA are too poor cricket moneywise so they should be happy with 4 members in the jury. Tandulkar, Kohli and Shami all are going to win these awards.

Shocking that Muralitharan is not even the top 3 of his generation! He is *the* greatest cricketer of the chosen period in my view.

Where is Murali? This must be a joke, even without Lara!

No doubt it should be Kallis. He is master of Batting , bowling and fielding. What more do you want from a Big Daddy?

We need to look @ both ODI's & Tests while picking the winner...Kallis was great in Test matches but he wasn't an impact player in ODI's & never took the game by the scruff of the neck....Lot of ppl have mentioned Lara here(rightly so)....he wasn't as good a player in ODI's as he was in Test matches....Considering domination, consistency, longevity, entertainment factor, inspiring ppl et al, one would've to pick SRT over Warne!!

Great to see Kallis in the list! But where is Muralitharen ? Leading wicket taker in tests & ODI's. Warne over Muralitharen? this is funny.He may have more wickets against Zim & bangladesh than warney.But warne? most of his wickets against England! who always struggle against spin! Cricinfo, please don't be biased !!

Hey why is Murali not in this list? How did Warne get in there before Murali? He has taken more wickets in test than Warne after playing a lesser number of games.. He has taken more wickets than Warne in the one day format as well.. So wts this double standards that we see? There are many more comparisons you can make with these two and its generally in favour of Murali (Ex:- Most 5 & 10 wickets in a game etc..). So come on guys be fair..

as i felt . this is not perfect selection . Kallis is okay .but warne and Tendulkar ? As Everyone knows how Lara is so brilliant . Even same team member Rahul Dravid also one time mentioned best batsman is Lara ? But fortunate always goes for some part . What happened to murali ? who is the best Warne or murali ? Still murali is wicket taking bowler . warne was far behind murali . Even test , oneday , first class ,list A and Twenty 20 . murali was the best wicket taking bowler for test and odi anytime . We have something to think how selection went ?

If you leave "IF" (if in full flow or if played longer) conditions and lets see the facts.

Brain Lara/Sachin Tendular

one day runs (10405/18426) - Sachin World Record one day Centuries (19/49) - Sachin World Record one day highest score (169/200*) - Sachin World Record for 1 year,Sehawag 219 one day double centuries (0/1) - Sachin World Record with Sehawag/R Sharma one day Average (40.48/44.83) - None of the two own the record one day matches (299/463) - Sachin World Record

Test runs (11953/15921) - Sachin World Record Test Centuries (34/51) - Sachin World Record Test highest Score (400*/248*) - Lara World Record Test double centuries (9/6) - None of the two own the record DG bradman12 Test average (52.88/53.78) - None of the two own the record DG Bradman 99.94 Test Matches (131/200) - Sachin World Record

Other Sachin 100 100s and Lara 501*. 24 vs 17 years played Looks like Sachin rules batting and cricket

Jacques Kallis is easily the cricketer of the generation. Over 20000 runs in international cricket besides the 500 odd wickets! Sachin and Warne are way behind Kallis. Let people not decide this, otherwise my fellow Indians will vote for Sachin who is a sentimental favorite.

Cricket is a team game it does not mean achieving personal goals in the career, Sachin Tendulkar has scored most runs in the history whereas winning percentage of India when he scored a ton is compared to other players is low, Kalis and Warne are the same compared to Sanath Jayasuriya, Sanath is a game changer who introduced power hitting with field restriction in first 15 overs. SL hold the record of highest runs in all three formats of Cricket and Sanath factor was there in all three. He has scored more than 11,000 runs and taken more than 300 wickets. Is this because he is not from Big Three ????

avg lara pontig-kallis-sachin home 58.65-56.57-56.73-52.67 away 47.80-45 -53.12-54.77 100 home-17- 23 -23 -22 away-17 -18-- 22 -29 my dear friends who are the home track bully &who is the best .lot more factz to come for sachin hateres

You can't pick one, each player has their own claim. Sachin was the best batsman I've seen in 30 years, Lara was brilliant, Kallis dependable with ball & bat & Murily was Murily. I also agree that total runs/wickets should come into it as there are too many variables, longevity, amount of overs bowled, position in batting line up, who they played most & where.

If you put it down to shere impact you would have Gilly in there, Ponting would deserve a look in along with McGrath.

However all things said, I would look at it from a player standpoint. Who would you least like to play against? In my opinion that would be Warne. Whenever Warne came on to bowl you just knew something was going to happen. You could see the look in the batsman's eye change, his whole being changed, the team lifted and you knew you were a chance to win, even the oposition crowd became hushed. He exerted a presence whether you loved or hated him.

Warne would be first picked in any team over last 20yrs

Where is Brian lara who is a match winner and more stylish batsman than sachin.He has played most of his innings in bowling pitches than in sub continent batting pitches.

this is really disgusting......where is murali and bryn lara...is that shane warne deserve to become a nominee? murali took more wickets than warne and with great average......my choices are sachin,murali and kallis which represent best batsmen,bowler and all rounder respectively....

this is a joke and a disgrace , where is Lara and Murali? anyone explain?

Considering the shortlisted candidates, the one who had a greater influence on the game should get the honor for mine. In that regard, I can look no further than SRT although the other 2 are supreme champions in their own right. I would be surprised if Warne is adjudged ahead of SRT and Kallis.

Come on guys it's CRICKETER of the generation. Well, there are three things a cricketer can do on the field. There's some one who's got 13,289 runs at 55.37, 292 wickets at 32.89 and no one ever seems to mention those 200 catches.

Why Donald Bradman consider as number one batsmen in the world only and only reason he was not in Sachin's era or else he will be rated as number two.Without Sachin is the best cricker of the generation.Even he is the main reason that cricket is most popular. every one says that Sachin played more match and score more runs. No one asked other players not to play more matches. No one could play this well in 24 years.. That is not that simple as saying

SRT is the greatest player of the cricket world has ever seen.....He full every inch of criterion. Solid technique... can play at every corner of the field. Never maligned the game but worked hard for games pride. Wonderful personality. The true legend.

Obviously Sachin for single-handedly bringing in atleast 10 crore fans...... Surprising Shane Warne ???????

We are talking about the era dominated by Australian team and the very player who lead Australia as a Captain and all time highest run scorer, second only to Sachin.He is one of the most successful captain and has 3 world cup to his name. The fact that Ricky ponting was not even nominated makes this whole award a joke.

KALLIS is far ahead than Sachin and Warne ,because He performed as all rounder in test and ODI ( even in T-20 ) cricket .Thus no body is around him as a cricketer of the generation .Even Sachin is( was ) a top class player ....Good luck them....for rest of life ......!

@Saurabh "Calvin" - Just check out the Home vs Away differential in average for Lara & Ponting...compared to that of Tendulkar

Warne for me... reasons being I am a biased Australian. Another reason is that in the BIG games when it mattered the MOST.......Warne rose to the top. After all, its a team game and its about the team winning. And that sums up Shane Warne. My opinion and its final

Previous winners include Tendulkar, Shahid Afridi, Virender Sehwag, Dale Steyn, Kumar Sangakkara and Lasith Malinga. Most from sub-continent. Plenty influential players like Ponting, Smith, Viv Richards, Waugh, Fleming etc. did not make the list and Ed Cowan did...

for me the criteria is different to chose player of the generation. It would be who had the most impact on cricket and who was the most match winning cricketer. Someone who could change the complexion of that match. Kallis definitely tops met list. Warne is okay in my books. Tendulkar should not be on the list as he was not a match winner. Whenever he batted well. India usually lost. He played for records and that i don't care about. One person missing on the list is Wasim Akram. and Imran Khan. They should definitely be on the list.

Warne to me is the cricketer of the generation, cannot forget his impact in high pressure games, Semi Final of WC 1996, again in the semi final and Final of WC 1999, real champion.

It has to be Warne, due to his mesmerising on field aura, however some of his off field antics may put the judges off.

Kalis is undoubtedly the best among these three. His batting and bowling average in all formats is better then Sachin Tendulkar. I surprised to too see name of Shane Warn in the list. Mcgrath, Wasim Akram and Muralidhran were much better then Warne. my vote is for Kalis.

Akram, Warne, Lara, Ambrose and Younis are some better examples. Lara was a better test player than Tendulkar, and Tendulkar's staggering ODI record is largely due to many games in Asia and batting top of the order.

In my opinion, Adam Gilchrist is the greatest cricketer of our generation. In proportion to the amount of games he played, he won more games than any of these guys did. He changed the role of the wicketkeeper and could not only blast his team into powerful positions, but also change a shocking situation to one of strength.

Lara was a better batsman than either Kallis or Tendulkar. Ask any purist.

This award is totally pointless, how can you not include BC Lara, for one, I'm not a fan of his but admire his record entertainment value, batting skills. The award is going to be given to Tendulkar, he about the only one who does not deserve the award, he may have been successful but entertainment wise, one of the most boring to watch. How can you have an award that rules out the best players Ponting, Dravid, McGrath, Murali, Lara, Akram to name a few including who are on the list, Kallis, and Warne. to call Tendulkar the biggest icon the game has ever known is just a plain simple lie, written by a biased commentator(s) with a Indian bias

I can only guess the make up of the 50 cricket experts haha

Wow…where is Ricky Pointing and the great Sir Brian Charles Lara? You got to be kidding..Warney?…why? Very biased indeed….

Ceremony is in Mumbai. India is one of the big three. Good luck king Kallis, but there is no way anyone but Tendulkar will get it, especially when the King himself picked Lara over Tendulkar. My pick would be Jacque all the way. But this is "pay-back" time. Jacque, you are the best, whether you get the award or not!

AH_USA ,, where do u live? We can sit down for a coffee and share ur thoughts one day...

what about ponting - probably bats about 95% to the level of sachin and kallis (at minimum) but twice as good as a fielder. Having guys like him at cover and short midwicket makes batsman think twice before attempting a quick single, making it very difficult to rotate strike. Has an amazing arm, and most allround fielder I have ever seen. At slips he grabs half chances with ease, making batsman think twice when pushing at a ball slightly outside off - this makes him vulnerable to the incoming delivery. So he is a wicket taker on the field. Batting, amazing batsman about 95% to level of sachin/kallis if not as good. Best player of fast bowling I have seen over last 20 years. Only weakness was the incoming delivery and spin, but that was corrected over time and he was unstoppable at his peak.

It's a pleasure for me to know that ESPNCrickInfo is conducting an Awards Ceremony for the Cricketer of the Generation and has selected 3 Well Known and powerful Cricket Personality for this award. However, many of such Cricket Loving people feel that, out of Hundred's of Extremely talented Cricket Icons only 3 has been chosen seems unfair! I feel that ESPNCrickinfo should have atlest TOP 10 Cricketer of the Generation Award and the contestants for such an award should be expanded to Top 100! We are also aware that even the ICC Committee gives a listing of Top 10 (currently) players in its official Website and Not top 3! So, its my humble request to expand this Award to Top 10 (and not 3) out of one hundred Best Cricketers of past 2 decades! Thank You (by, Mr. Aatish A Pandya, India)

The outcome is obvious. You go by the numbers, records, popularity, influence, financial/social/emotional networth. Who is the Tendsetter?

Ponting on top because he played very good all over the world, not just india.. Wasim akram on top for sure... Kallis is good choice...

where is Lara..he was the best of the last generation..come on people...Sachin was great to but Lara was a little more exciting to watch..

warne will never fit in this category. It is a shame for cricket of not including muralitharan (highest wicket taker)..this award might be already fixed to sachin but kallis is the clear winner for thiscaward and he will be remembered for another century. people who knows, plays, understand cricket will definetely accepts this.

Lara was a better batsman than Tendulkar.

Guys, this is about Cricketer of the generation (test, odi both ). Lara was a great test batsman, 2nd only to sachin or vice-versa, but as an odi batsman, lara was far behind sachin ..... sachin was the god of odi cricket and in top 2-3 if not 1 in tests of all time, period. Sachin change the game of cricket. He broke all records of batting. He brought people, crowd to the stadium. people cried ,laughed, danced to one man's tune, dats sachin, country came to standstill when sachin batted. warne was an awesome test bowler but not that great in odi and not good in subcontinent. infact surprisingly murly is rated behind warne. Kallis was best all rounder of this generation and in top 2 if not 1 of all time. But kallis was never a fiercest player for the opposition, he was good enough with bat & ball in both tests & odi, he knew how to make runs , but never the best both in odi's & test. so conclusion, out of 3 , Sachin stands out with big margin. He was greatest in both tests & odi

Best all round cricketer - king kallis but alas I guess srt will get it

Although SRT is my favourite. I have to give this one to Kallis. Statistically he is a better batsman, and a way better bowler, in fact one of the best. His impact factor on the games he played was bigger than SRT.

jacques kallis stats Competition Test ODI FC LA Matches 166 325 257 421 Runs scored 13,289 11,574 19,695 14,840 Batting average 55.37 45.13 54.10 43.90 100s/50s 45/58 17/86 62/97 23/109 Top score 224 139 224 155* Balls bowled 20,232 10,750 29,033 13,673 Wickets 292 273 427 351

SRT stats Career statistics Competition Test ODI FC LA Matches 200 463 310 551 Batting average 53.79 44.83 57.92 45.54 100s/50s 51/68 49/96 81/116 60/114 Top score 248* 200* 248* 200* Wickets 46 154 71 201

Warne deserves it, Tendulkar will get it. People who don't accept the genius of Warne have no idea about crunch moment cricket and tactical nous.

Who in the right mind, would leave out the 'highest' wicket taker in world Cricket, a man who 'carried' Sri Lankan bowling attack for most part of two decades by himself, out of the top three. He won Tests on his own more than any other bowler. literally. Be it against the minnows or the best, he was always the one. Anyone who says it's easy to take wickets because he bowls a lot of overs is clearly delusional. From my understanding, it's quiet difficult to do that since the batters can be extra defensive against him.

It is hard to believe how Warne outplayed Murali, who after all, by far is the leading bowler in test cricket.

Not only ESPN but whole cricket fraternity should stop doing such polls. This undermines the achievement of other players. Lets say the list you have presented , how can you exclude Murali ? if its stats based. If its not stats based then Lara is ahead of Sachin anyday and minus the record chasing Dravid is ahead of Sachin in tests.

Lets enjoy the cricket and lets stop comparing.

Gopal Krishna Sharma Nandyala is spot target. Im west indian- 100% impartial here.

How in the world is Shane Warne rated higher than Murali???? Unbelievable. If you're looking at memorable performances, keep in mind that murali fetched sri lanka to a mind and stats boggling world cup win with the second weakest test playing nation at the time.That is equivalent to Bangladesh or Zimbabwe winning the 2015 World Cup. Yes, it is that profound of an accomplishment.

For all the proof you may need, visit the following ESPNCRICINFO pages.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/8166.html

http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/player/49636.html

Cricketer of the generation? Two words... Muthiah Muralitharan! If you don't agree, look up the number of matches SL won because of the genius of this spin king.

The 3 listed are definitely the top 3 cricketers belonging to that period of 1993-2013 without a doubt. People can talk about Ponting and Lara but they didn't have to face the likes of Walsh, Ambrose, Mcgrath, Warne. Only Sachin faced all the top bowlers in the world as India never produced the best bowler of any time period.

While the award can be between Kallis and Sachin there is no doubt these 3 were the best of that era

It's shocking not to see the great man Wasim Akram in the list as a fast bowler.....

TommytuckerSaffa, how is the BCCI involved here? This is espncricinfo awards. And why is Kallis more deserving than Sachin? I understand you are S.African. I have great respect for Kallis myself for his efforts as a batsman and a bowler but towards the end he hardly bowled and even when he bowled he was hardly threatening. Sachin, an underrated bowler, had the ability to bowl leg breaks, off breaks, and medium pace. Did you know that Kumble who is a great legspinner himself commented that he never threatened Sachin's place in the team as a batsman but Sachin always threatened his place as a bowler? Kallis may have more wickets than Sachin but that is compensated by Sachin's centuries and runs. Ask any bowler and they will tell you that while Kallis may be difficult to get out, they get nightmares bowling to Sachin. So please set aside your bias and accept the fact that Sachin is not only the greatest cricketer of this generation but for any generation.

Guys - here we are talking about cricketer of the ganeration considering tests + odis, there is no on ebetter than Sachin when you consider both formats.

@Abdulla Kunhi, Kallis has a higher average but Sachin's average in all countries and against all oppositions is very consistent. He has a below 50 average only in 2 countries, Pakistan and S.Africa. Even in those 2 countries, he averages in the 40s. Take a look at Kallis' record in England and Australia. Nothing much to write about. Overall average cannot be the best indicator but contributions against and in all nations also counts. Kallis filled his boots at home and against the hapless West Indies, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh. Lara's average is mediocre against India. It is fair enough that he is not listed in the final 3. Scoring 300s and 400s against a mediocre English attack doesn't count. Lara also doesn't bowl and Warne doesn't bat. Lara was a poor captain while Warne never captained.

Sachin also played crucial innings in Indian victories. The immediate one that springs to mind is the Chennai test against England in 2008.

Anyway, Sachin is "Bharat Ratna":-)

Surely it has to go to Kallis. Tendulkar achieved his records simply through longevity; he was a dud in his later years. Kallis is on another level entirely.

Brian Lara must be listed in the top bracket and will be the choice of many unbiased cricket fans for cricketer of the generation. It is shocking he has been omitted. What is the criteria being used here, somebody please explain.

SRT wasn't the best batsman.. Lara was, followed by Ponting.. Warne wasn't the best bowler, McGrath was.. Kallis was the greatest all-rounder.. Period..

For me the best cricketers were Ponting, Gilli, Warne, Mcgrath, last but not least Michael Beven because the era you are talking about was totally conquered by these guys. I don't care about the records. batsmen playing at number 1, 2, 3, and 4 have really good chances of making runs more than 10000, if they play for more than 10 years, so runs more than 10000 is not that important, but the way those runs were made is very important. Adam Gilchrist does not have 10000 runs, but he has won matches more than anyone in this game.....

Undoubtedly Tendulkar as the "player of the generation." But if you are looking at the best test cricketer over that time, Kallis should win it hands down. The best batting all-rounder the game has ever known, his run-making feats are easily comparable to Tendulkar's and his bowling easily comparable to the best pacer India ever produced. If the award has to go to the most entertaining cricketer who revived a dying art, Warne would get the votes. So out of 50 votes, I expect Tendulkar to get 38, Warne 8 and the rest to Kallis.

it is extremely shocking not to include the great brian lara ,for such awards. u cant write off lara from any comparisons . unbiased if any cricket lover and fan just go through his illustrious career and records, the world cant produce such LARA again. what a batsman he was.Tendulkar was incredible as far as a batsman is concerned, his records speaks for that , but my choice wd b BRIAN LARA , as his avgesges, techniques, performance on any surface against any opposition was same and a treat to watch.

Only blip in Shane's career is '14 wickets in that 2004 series in India was a success'. Tonked him in India from 1998. Kallis is my sentimental favorite. War-Horse!!! Will he win? Sachin is special but all-round abilities describe the greatest of the greats!!! So, how about some really match winning batters from India, not in the list. Moderator may not allow my comment :).

I respect the final 3 choices but I'd go with Murali, Tendulkar & Kallis. Murali instead of Warne for the simple fact that Murali for the majority of his career shouldered the majority of the bowling burden with only Chaminda Vaas for a quality bowling partner, whereas Warne had the cream of Australian fast bowling at his feet for the enterity of his career and thus soften the opposition (at the very least..pretty sure McGrath could vie equally well for the "Best Australian Bowler of his Generation on his own) for his potent bowling.

we are missing two players in this contest The Great Wasim Akram and two and 3 world record holder 375, 400, and 501, Brain Charles Lara

" Sachin has higher averages then Lara and kallis in all countries in world". Kallis' average in test cricket is higher than Sachin Tendulkar

Tendulkar and Kallis are definitely the most successful batsman and all rounder of this era but Warne the most successful bowler? This is the very definition of overrated IMO.

@Gunja Maddy U: "...one of you have said that sachin has not played many matches aginst wasim and waqar just he had palyed only 3 they said but in that 3 how did he bat is the answer to you question and more over even wasim and waqar were afraid & worried how to bowl to sachin, that is sachin..."

The answer to your question can be easily obtained from statsguru. ST played three tests in the 90s against Pakistan. In 6 innings, he scored 180 runs with 136 his highest score with an average of 30. So, he did not perform too well in those three tests against Pakistan.

@Gunja Maddy: I am sure ST was equally worried on how to play the two Ws.

To all my enthusiastic friends commenting here,

Please relax, this is just an award by ESPNCricinfo to celebrate their 20 years of wonderful service to the cricketing world. This is not the end of the world and certainly not going to determine who is the actual Cricketer of the Generation of last 20 years! We all know that it is some task and it will take 20 more years to come to that decision when we have so many great cricketers to consider for various reasons.

In that view to make the argument more interesting I propose the name of Monty Panesar as the Cricket of the Generation !

Good luck with voting.

sachin sachin no one is near to him t become cricketer of the generation (1993-2013) any one can say anything but we all know who he is the god of cricket , one of you have said that sachin has not played many matches aginst wasim and waqar just he had palyed only 3 they said but in that 3 how did he bat is the answer to you question and more over even wasim and waqar were afraid & worried how to bowl to sachin, that is sachin

I am no India fan but I believe this award should go to sachin. In the 90s india was a mediocre cricketing nation and their glimmer of hope was this man who always delivered. He transformed indian cricket into the powerhouse collossus it s today with the help of dravid, sourav, laxman, and kumble. Words cannot describe the enormous impact that he has had on Indian cricket. A role model for aspiring cricketers worldwide, a humble man, who enthralled all with his array of stroke play. As a bangladeshi I would like to salute the living legend. Very lucky to have witnessed a player like him in my lifetime.

The problem with this whole thing is the bias. Murali and Lara should have been on the list since Murali is a way better spinner than Warne and Lara is arguably better than Tendulkar. It can even be argued that Ricky Ponting and Wasim Akram should have been included in this list too. The fact that these 2 cricketers did not make the list says quite a lot. Thats like asking who's the best player in basketball and leaving out Kobe/Lebron James. The problem with cricket is that there is no clear cut winner in any of these contests. Who is to say that Tendulkar is better than Lara and Ponting? Who is to say that Warne is better than Murali, Wasim, McGrath? Kallis is without a doubt the only winner in his category and DESERVES to win this battle. Yet, based on the already biased nature of this panel, I have no doubt that Tendulkar will win. Sad, because the batting record/ability of Kallis alone trumps Tendulkar, plus Kallis was quite a bowler (better record than most Indian fast bowlers)

People who are comparing Lara to SRT -Exactly what are you basing your judgement on? Over-all average in Test cricket? Over-all average in ODI's? Number of centuries in Tests? Number of centuries in ODI's? Average and centuries against Australia? Average of both in India or WI? There ability to play on deteriorating square turners (SRT always looked comfortable playing on crumbling tracks when every the batsmen looked all at sea - I remember his half century against Aus when Aus was bowled out in the final innings for 90 odd. SRT looked as if he was batting on a different pitch to the rest - including Ponting and Dravid although Laxman made runs without looking totally solid). Lara could do one thing better- That is playing the marathon innings, once he was in on a flat surface!! SRT had all-around batting ability! There are aspects where certain batsmen may have been better than SRT eg. Lara with long innings, Dravid with defence, Ponting on pulling, Sehwag on attack etc BUT overall?

If the question was about the best batsman of the generation then I guess that would be like Sachin, Lara, Ponting, Dravid, Kallis, Inzi, Sanga........ but it's not just about batting. If it is about the best cricketer then all the factors should be there. Batting, bowling, fielding, handling pressure, and sportsmanship. If we look at the stats, then Kallis is the best among three. The generation that you guys are talking about had one more batsman, a lower middle order batsman. No matter who scored a century, or how much the other batsman made, as long as he was on the crease, victory was certain. There's no way a lower middle order batsman can make 15000 runs, but the impact he had was enormous. And, that batsman is Michael Bevan.

Warne was very good. Very very good Indeed. But he was no better than Wasim Akram, Glenn McGrath, Waqar Younis, Curtley Ambrose or even Brett Lee. I think Warne was just as good as Saqlain and Anil Kumble.

For someone who knows cricket by just "Watching" it in screens - Its Sachin. For someone who knows cricket by playing it in hard-way - Its Kallis. You know what I mean!

how is warne the most successful bowler of the recent past? have they not seen the numbers from 1993-2013? he has 1001 international wickets @ 25.51 vs murali who has 1347 @ 22.86..

if the panel chose warne that's fine who cares, but at least be FACTUAL in the opening paragraph.. warne is NOT the most successful bowler of the recent past that would be a lie..

In my view, the performance of these players as role models for the young should come into the account, even if only as a tie-breaker. Perhaps this is why Lara didn't quite make the final cut. Warne was not a good role model, with his sledging and off-field antics. Kallis was generally a good role model, apart from his refusal to walk when he nicked to the keeper. Sachin was always a superb role model and, when I took all else into account, he got my vote (and I am not an Indian or really an Indian supporter!!)

It is so sad to see other south Asian fans just criticize India and Indian players. Before Sachin, India was not what it is today. India and Indian revenue which is 80 percent of cricket revenue helps the game tremendously and Sachin is big part why cricket became religion in India and he got to a status of deity. Experts know Lara wasn't better then Sachin or he will finish ahead in this list. If u had to pick two batsmen, Lara is next but only one then Sachin has to be there. Kallis is great player but he never performs in clutch. Example, Sachin was highest run getter in two world cups and second highest in 2011 when India won. Sachin has higher averages then Lara and kallis in all countries in world. So please, put your bias aside and think who is right. Warne, kallis, wasim, embrose, McGrath, murli, imran, dravid all are legends but when u want to pick one, most of the times it will be hard to pass Sachin after u see every category.

Tamim Iqbal, has a vote..seriously?? The other two players who currently play are Mahela and Sangakkara...O well, just looked odd...

Is voting by a much of expert the best way to select the nominee? I dont deny the fact that these three are contenders for this award. But I think it is not fair to Murali and Lara here. It should have been all 5 of them in the list and voted by equal number of representatives of all nationalities.

It would be an insult to so many great players if only one player is picked as the "Cricketer of the generation". And it's baffling to see that Brian Charles Lara is not in the final shortlist!

Vaughanographic Yes, you are correct no debate.. cause Lara is not even in the list of three to choose from..

If Kallis doesn't win it'll be the biggest travesty ever....Test Batting.. 13,289 runs @ 55.37 including 45 centuries....and Bowling 292 wickets @32.65 and Economy rate of 2.82.. There's nobody... but nobody has a record like that...

@sachin_equal_to_bradman Correction...ST did not play enough cricket against Wasim or Waqar when they were at their peak in the 90s. India only played a total of three test matches against Pakistan in the 90s. So, your claim of ST doing well against the duo does not hold a lot of merit. Even when Wasim was asked to rate ST's technique, his response was that because he had not played enough cricket against ST, he won't be able to judge him.

Look at the tile of this story. That is how it is going to end up. Tendulkar, Warne and Kallis

Hilarious all the SRT comments here when there isnt even consensus he was better than Lara! (Admit it SRT fans, there are at least strong claims by other players). Similarly Warne..well Muralitharan has a better record doesnt he overall? I'm not saying Muri is better, just that again he is not necessarily outrightly the best player.

Kallis is in a close of his own. Firstly, Sachin made 51 test hundreds at 53.78, Kallis 45 at 55.37 in THIRTY FOUR less innings on far more bowler friendly pitches. Is one a better bat than the other? We could debate for ages on that. But then you add the catches and the 292 wickets.... 292!!

No debate

OMG..Again politics Sachin will get max votes n he ll be the generation cric..Again Lara is ignored which is a shame to cricket

Kallis the complete player.Excelled at 3 major cricket disciplines.

It has to be Sachin. He is the greatest cricketer not just of this generation but for ever. No one else has contributed to the game more than Sachin. I would even say that only because of Sachin the game is still popular. Warne was an England and S.African bully. Forget Sachin, Laxman, and Dravid, Warne had no answers to even Ravi Shastri and Navjot Sidhu. Kallis was an average bowler and was not able to bat aggressively when needed. He was also good mainly in test matches. In ODIs he was not that great. Sachin, on the other hand, can play defensively or aggressively as needed, had all the strokes in the book and more, played for over 24 years in all formats of the game and has unbeatable records in tests and ODIs. He could also bowl as he showed several times bowling the crucial last over of the game. Dont forget he can bowl leg spin, off spin, and medium pace. He has also captained India to a series win against RSA. Sachin is the best ever.

Judging by the comments, many seem to agree that Lara is being short-changed (yet again!) in favour of "accumulator" type players. Lara achieved so much, without the support of management, on a weak team, against the biggest attacks and without the aid of playing constantly vs minnows.

My choice is Sachin Tendulkar. To play 23 years with the same passion is not only a sign of greatness but a special achievement as well. Not only that, but to play 23 years consistently and that too without any controversies is beyond comparison. He is inarguable the most loved enemy of this era. Every opponent has immense respect for this man. His records speaks for him, but one has to understand that among the top three contenders, he played with the weakest team. This has to be considered in cricket. Pressure can have huge impact on the mightiest. He was always pressured to score runs, as he knew that without him, there might be trouble. Warne and Kallis played with more freedom as they knew they had exceptional backup in from of other batsman and bowler in the team. Success can be achieved in cricket by taking a bit of risk. Tendulkar was never at luxury to take risks, because baring few there was no body to salvage the team.

SRT should win by miles. Despite coming from the flat tracks on India, SRT has a batting average in Australia and England higher than Kallis in Tests, took India to 2 ODI World Cup finals, won one. Kallis is a consistent choker-- always chokes in big matches. Despite being part of very strong ODI sides, he has never taken his team to any ODI WC final. And, Warne was never successful against any of the Asian teams. Most of Warne's success was mauling a hapless English team who are by nature clueless against leg spin; they are struggling against Badree. The subcontinent teams, who can actually play spi, were never bothered by Warne.

Sachin Tendulkar deserves the award. He scored 15,921 Test runs and 18,426 ODI runs. I would consider his 100 International centuries to be the greatest achievement of his career. And that's no joke. He not only scored runs but also inspired a generation of cricketers and millions of people around the globe.

any list without Lara is incomplete. Why did we need to pick one great when there are so many of them. Wouldn't it be insult to others???

@TommytuckerSaffa: Kallis has never won a WC/Champions trophy or any major ICC events!!! Can you challenge this? Sachin was dominent against the best of his era (Aussies). Ask Warne,Akram,Murali,MGrath,Lara,Ponting,Ambrose,Walsh and so on...They will all tell Sachin was tougher to bowl than kallis!!! Can you argue?

this is crazy! Kallis over Brian Lara?! this is a joke

Muralitharan is not in the list?? Are these people joking? If Murali played for one of the big 3 nations he would be indisputably the greatest cricketer of this generation. But unfortunately he's from tiny Sri Lanka.

Murali has 92 more wickets in 13 fewer matches and had only a solid supporting act in Vaas. Warne was supported by one of the greatest batting line ups and one of the greatest bowling line ups the world has ever seen. It didn't eat away at his wickets, it helped him get more. and when he was out of form the other guys would finish the match. When Murali was out of form he just had to keep toiling away because nobody else would take wickets. And people saying he got wickets against minnows, take them away and he still wins. And in that case Warne's wickets vs Eng should be removed too. Eng is worse than Bangladesh at playing spin, and Warne played 36 tests against them taking 195 wickets. Murali played 16 tests against them and took 112 wickets. How about that!

Poor list ....... how could be without any great fast bowler .. like Wasim, McGrath ?

Brian LARA should have been there in top three. The great man has always been discarded when it comes to ratings or stuff like that. He was also not included in the top ten of ESPN legends in 2001-02. How u can forgot the player who has such a great record in both forms of the game and played some of the greatest innings in the history of cricket. Keeping in mind that the windies were no longer a strong team during his playing days made his achievements even more great. Lara was one man show. He singlehandedly took the attack to some of the greatest bowlers of our times.

@saikrish246 To suggest that the only reason people would vote for Kallis is because they hate India or Australia and therefore do not want to vote for Tendulkar or Warne is frankly a joke. And unless you were actually in the changing rooms with the teams facing Kallis you cannot talk intelligently about what the oppositions thoughts or plans were when seeing his name on the opposition's team sheet. I don't know what kind of impact seeing Kallis' name on a team sheet would have, but the idea that a player with a career average around 56 (higher than Tendulkar's) would not factor in to the opposition's plans is a strange one to me. Stats alone do not make a great player, but Kallis is certainly one example where the stats only serve to underline the greatness that everyone in cricket is aware of. Tendulkar could win a game with the bat, Warne with the ball. Kallis could do both.

The argument that Sachin got the better of Warne and therefore deserves the trophy is horribly flawed. Jimmy Anderson had Sachin in his back pocket but that doesn't mean he is a better player than Sachin. The key factor should be how they contributed to the success of their nations. Sachin and Kallis of course did this but IMO Warne changed the dynamic of the Aussie side and was the key factor in their domination of a ten year period. Having Warne in the side allowed Aus to play with just four bowlers as he could be relied upon to either contain or attack. Kallis batted too slowly on many occasions and he did not stand up to the great Aussie side of the 90's 00's. Sachin batted selfishly for two years and let the personal milestones stifle his natural abilities and the entertainer him. Don' get me wrong those two are greats but it is for those reasons why I would give it to Warne. Any 3 could win it though and nobody could complain much.

Not taking anything away from Sachin, but if i was captaining a side playing against Sachin then I would have far less sleepless nights compared to how many I would have had playing against Lara, be it test cricket or odi. Lara carried burden of WI when they were down and still won them matches single hand. Sachin lacked that ability and had others to carry burden alongside him, Dravid, laxman... Dravid saved or won them more test matches then Sachin.

absulute it will be KALLIS ..the greatest all rounder in all formats of the cricket. but as a indian my softcorner with sachin. then it should be sachin or kallis...

pls pls sachin

Just cz, most of Indians watch cricket dont say Sachin is Generation's best. Its cz of few external (may be darling of few greats and big force) forces he made to top 3. There are lot others who are greater than so called sachin the icon. Few names you can find in the given list itself (in fact more impact than this guy). Since the list was sorted to 3, it has to be The King Kallis. This guy is phenomenal ... as a bowler, batsman and a fielder. Must hv come from heaven. Single person equivalent to min 3 of any opposition. If u take so called icon, sachin into account, then kallis is equivalent to sachin + any other complete bowler. If they see only talent and give the award: It has to be kallis. Any other, like political, fame/name or something, then first Sachin then goes to Warne.

It wrong in my opinion to vote or judge this catagory as I believe its a sort of life time achievement award and all excellent players deserve that. Murli - Best unorthadox off spinner ever- Warne ..Best legbreak bowler. Wasim Akram .. Best left arm pacer to ever gravce cricket field..Steve waugh toughest cookie when it comes to captaincy.. Tendulkar for flair , Dravid for class .. Arvinda for skill ... there are so many who have played in Tendulkar ara and he is no better or less from any one of them...

this is an insult to other great cricketers .

My allegiance is with Sachin but in all honesty, Kallis is the man. He not only batted so well, he was an exceptional good fast bowler. To have survived for so many years and perform consistently in both areas was amazing. Except for last couple of series, he was a top performer.

Sachin and Warn both of them brought their countries to the top. Warn never got recognition that he deserved while he was playing.

Murali is the bowling equivalent of Sachin. Most Wickets in ODIs and Test Matches. He should have made the final three.

Warne or Murali? Oh for sure Warne. He bowled probably 5-10 overs less than Murali in a day's play. He had the great McGrath eating away half his wickets. He could pick a batsman's weakness in a jiffy. He bowled with an undoubtedly clean action. And he mastered the toughest art of all, wrist spin. Yet he ends up with 708 wickets. Not to mention his batting ability and slip catching.

Having said all that Jacques Kallis would have to be the best of the lot. He's got some of the best numbers batting-wise, he bowled quick at times and fielded in the slips. Overall,there was no cricketer more involved in the action than JH Kallis in the last twenty years. Arguably the greatest of all time. And there's been only one other cricketer in his league, which means that kind of talent is seriously very rare.

Kallis average is better than Sachin and he scored most of his runs on difficult South African tracks. Sachin is flat tracker and hasnt taken 280 Test wickets like Kallis did!!

* Breaking the highest test score TWICE *highest first class score *He has scored an 20% of his team runs, a feat surpassed only by Bradman (23%) and George Headley (21%). *holds the world record of scoring most runs in a single over *He became the first man to score seven centuries in eight first-class innings, *He was the fastest batsman to score 10,000 (with Sachin Tendulkar) and 11,000 Test runs( after , Sangakara ) in terms of number of innings *Nine of his centuries are double centuries (surpassed only by Donald Bradman)

Brian Lara, I salute you !!

I can't believe no murali ! he is the best bowler not just this generation even many generations to come ! he is all time great! warn is a great bowler but no comparison to murali.

Murali cannot be given this award. He is a lopsided performer. Most wickets in Sri Lanka and other minnow nations. He has never ever troubled India in India to say the least. There have been successful spinners troubling India in India. Plus except for odd tests his success rates in Australia, England, South Africa has been poor. Very compartmentalised successes, so to say.

All 3 had their weakness, Warne was ineffective on Indian pitches, Tendulkar was a little bit out of form in the last two years and couldnt bail his team out when needed, Kallis a top test allrounder but could not stand up in premier tournaments like World cup wen SA needed him. Just like the sayin every man has a weakness

Extremely subjective, but if the award is based on impact, then the answer is either Warne or Tendulkar. The two big themes that defined circket over the last couple of decades were a) the rise of India as crickets economic superpower, and b) the dominance of Australia as a pure cricketing superpower. Tendulkar represents 'a' more than any other single figure, and Warne represents 'b' more than any other single figure. In historic terms 'a' will matter more than 'b' (Australia has dominated cricket before, most markedly in the Bradman era). That said if the award is based purely on cricketing impact I would give it to Warne because he had a greater impact on the outcomes of the games themselves - won more tests for Australia around the world, won a World Cup final for Australia, and a has record that rivals that of Tendulkar. That said, in terms of how I would define the era itself, this was undoubtedly the era of Tendulkar (following the era of WG, Bradman, Sobers & Viv).

The answer is Muralitharan. The greatest spinner ever, the first ever attacking, strike bowling spinner, redeveloped spinning, challenged the laws of the game (and I'd say anyone saying he broke the laws needs to read the ICCs report on his testing). I'd say a 5-fer is more impressive than a 100, murali has 67!!!, that is easily better than tendulkars 51 tons. He is the most unique cricketer of the era by far, in decades to come people will find this award and declare it null on the basis it excluded the only truely unique phenomenon of the era.

Indians will say sachin, Aussies will say warney , indian and aussies haters will say kallis. Kallis is an all rounder so he has better stats than sachin and warne but stats doesnt make a player great . Kallis never has an impact of sachin and warne . if u see sachin and warne on team sheet opposition will plan for them for day's. Kallis never has such impact. so it is down to sachin and warne . sachin and warne are best players in their departments in cricket history. Sachin dominated warne every time not only warne he dominated every single great bowler he had played with from richard haddlee to Dale Steyn . But Warne did not able to dominate subcontinet batsman who play spin very

murlitharan not in top 3,what a joke, i will rate him at number 1, 800 test wickets and over 500 oneday wickets with avg and strike rate better than warne , most 5 wickets and 10 wickets in test matches, i dont think anyone can come close to his records, he was a member of very weak bowling attack side and he performed for his team 95 out of 100 times. he has 92 more wickets than warne and played less matches than him. Tendulkar has some great records but i think his records will be challenged in coming years, sangakara has best chance to surpass tendulkar's test run record in next 4 years. kholi will surpass his odi runs record. but no one can come close to break murli recors in next 15 years atleast

many are saying why not murali, murali is a great cricketer but warne is a absolute genius he can get u wickets on any pitch against any attack.

Seriously, why is there a discussion at all. Kallis is the player that has stood out a lot more than the other two. There is no other all-rounder within a million miles of him in the last generation (25 years). You can make arguments for other batters ahead of Tendulkar e.g. Lara or Ponting or Dravid or even Kallis. You can make arguments for other bowlers ahead of Warne e.g. Murali or McGrath or Ambrose. But you can't make any argument for any allrounder being near Kallis. He's a one a in a century occurrence. The only other occurrence of an allrounder player of his magnitude is Sobers. And his workload is unparalleled in this generation. So many matches, so many runs, so many overs. Has to be Kallis. Bradman, Sobers, Kallis have to be the first three picks of any thinking man's all-time unbeatable eleven.

The Greatest ever Bowler to grace this world, Muttiah Muralitharan is not on the list. For all those saying Murali took many wickets against Bangladesh, Zimbabawe; please remove those wickets and still Murali has a better wickets per match ratio as well as all bowling statistics Murali beats Warne. Then we can equally argue Warne took wickets against England who play leg spin as poorly as Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. So without Murali, this award is a fake.

I cannot believe that Muralidharan did not make the final three. What a travesty!

No one made cricket more interesting to watch b/w 1993-2003 than Wasim. I am baffled that he is not even in top 3. He was the right balance of stats and charisma.

I'm sure everyone will agree that all such awards are purely subjective. Even after the Award is given, every one is going to agree / disagree about the decision. And most of the comments are just personal views why one is better thant the other. For me, the pressure of a billion people is a myth. The moment you take the field, the only pressure a sports person is under, is the match situation. They dont think about what people will do if they lose. So all the 3 were under equal pressure to perform well for their team and all the 3 did that to varying degree of success. i think thats where ST & SW have the edge over JK. The ability to perform under pressure. If JK was good under pressure, SA wouldnt have lost all the knock-out the matches they played in the WC. He couldnt do anything to remove the C- Tag from SA. India were a better batting unit than AUS but it was OZ bowling that made them strong. SW was the cog of the Aussie bowling Wheel. Warnie, The Wizard of Spin.

Well this is a popularity contest really.

Breaking the highest test score TWICE, highest first class score, very much up there with accumulated test runs, all this whilst playing amongst a broken (and losing) team & board for most of his career.

Brian Lara, I salute you.

For all those who are saying that Murali is better than Warne: It is not about the number of wickets. It is about the impact on the game. In this regard, Warne is miles ahead of Murali. Warne didnt have to force a change in rules to continue to bowl which has basically opened the door for more bowlers with suspect action trying to bowl Doosra & Teesra. If he had taken all those wickets with a clean action like Bhajji or Swan, may be we could have considered him here. Again, It comes down to Impact which Warne had in keeping the Art of Leg spin going.

Well you all may fight it out over the names of lara ,Kallis and other great legends the game has ever seen..But when you are talking about the greatest cricketer of this generation ,then boy i believe you are looking for the best player or cricketer of this generation in all the formats of the game One days...If you look back during the era of Vivian Richards,the best cricketer would have been the best player in tests.But in this generation you have to consider the best cricketer in both formats of the game . So which cricketer have proved himself in both the formats? Kallis has been great in Tests but in One days he ain't that good..And If given a option no one would buy a ticket to see Kallis bat whole day.. But Sachin stands out as Cricketer who mesmerized and infused a new religion in Sub-Continent.You name it ,He has it..He killed it,He nailed it,He achieved the heights of success which you can just imagine.And regarding Shane..Sachin Owns him..He might be good but ain't great!!

Warne was great, but Murli was better. Warne feasted against weak and mediocre English batting for a decade and piled up numbers, along with the hype. And Murli's numbers are still better than him. Murli played only 6 Tests against England, and averaged around 16 per wicket. If he had the chance to play them more, his numbers would be even better, plus he would be hyped more. The English, and those that perform well against England, tend to get the most hype, but Murli was imply better.

Kallis is a great great cricketer. He is a once in a generation player. But so are Warne and Tendulkar. Being an allrounder doesn't make you twice a cricketer. Don't believe me? How about a match up between a normal balanced team and a team consisting of all rounders? Let's say an all time XI vs all time allrounders XI. Who do you think would win?

I am not even saying Kallis shouldn't win this award. I am only saying that he isn't a an automatic choice simply by the dint of being an allrounder.

By far greatest mean. who served the cricket most. who earned more respect and who took the pressure of most fans and who loved the cricket most and who was honorable throughout the career and by far that guy is SRT200.

His services to cricket are that great that even his SRT200 achievement is enough to get cricketer of all time award.

Doesn't matter who wins.... All the three Cricketers made sure that the future of Cricket is not empty as the Followers of Cricket almost trebled during their era.

For your knowledege!!!

India has the 2nd largest population in the world after China. So there's no sense about voting for these players online. Results tell the story.

If you vote for any cricket poll online, India will always win :D :D.

Brian Lara is by far the best.

Hahaha..April fool in March? I mean this has to the biggest joke ever. I feel so angry and ashamed at the same time for reading such stuff. What has these players done for cricket which the likes of Wasim Akram, Brian lara, and Murli have not done for cricket. Its so sad.

Glenn Mcgrath! Where is his name? Sachin may have been a star, but he was not so great in his last few years. Kallis and warne had their ups and downs too.

Shane Warne! Pure Genius.

The best crickter doesn't mean the best all rounder. The argument that an allrounder is a complete cricketer and that a batsman or a bowler is only half a cricketer is a joke.

This is easy. Brian Charles LARA!!!!!!

This list is an insult without Lara on it, a player who has a career test strike rate always 10 points above Tendulkar, and exactly the same century to innings ratio. Not only that, he has huge innings vs the top team of his and perhaps any other era (Australia - Lee, Gillespie, Warne, Mcgrath).

This is going to be the biggest joke in cricket history. Better stop this kind of nonsense rather than insulting champion cricketers around the world. First of all, nobody can select the greatest player in generation. How warn become better than murali. Kallis never win the World cup. Sachin has slit age than Lara because of his achievements. Other than Lara was the most beautiful batsman we have seen in this generation. Nobody can even come close to Murali if you are talking about the impact, He was the highest wicket taker in Test & one day up to now. He changes cricketing rules after chucking incident in Australia. Most 5 wickets & 10 wickets holders in the test. But for all real gentleman on the cricket field. I don't know what the bloody hell that Sri Lankans does on that panel of judges.

Kallis is the best cricketer, arguably, but GREATEST - which includes the number of people who have been influenced and the impact on game is Sachin, by a proverbail mile. He is the Bradman of the post-war era. Like my facebook id suggests Donald Tendulkar = THE greatest champions of our wonderful game!

I believe the award should not only consider their performance on the ground, but off the ground as well. A cricketer of a generation should be an inspiration for young people. Based on that criteria, Shane Warne does not qualify to be in this list due to his troubled past.

With the remaining two, it would be one of the most difficult choices to make. Given the fact that Kallis had a strong team to play with, Sachin never had that opportunity until the last quarter of his career. Being a lone warrior, to display quality cricketing skills under such circumstances, I think Sachin will make a cut above Kallis to bag this award!

May the deserving person win!

Undoubtedly without any bias...it's ST due to his longevity, role model for youngsters, smash runs against all countries, in all conditions, in all formats and ability to bowl. Sorry to say but SW not in this league.. Never successful in india conditions. Lara should have been in this list.

It's pretty easy to identify who will win, based on the 50 judges. Most have been outspoken about the style of cricket they prefer, the players they respect and their preferences for batsmen or bowlers as key stakeholders in the game. I think the vote will show Tendulkar. Personally, I think it should be Kallis. But the greatest tactician in the game is without question Shane Warne. Brilliant bowler, great slips fielder, but a master of the game and the human condition. We'll have forgotten about the award in a few days anyway. But their legacies as players will live on.

Records are meant to be broken; But Legacy is not so. Warnie Warnie all the way

It is between Sachin and Jacques. Because, Warne still scratches the head about how he could not get Sachin in so many matches and for the way Sachin treated him. Someone mentioned about all three being winners. WHY NOT? All three are great in their own ways. One a master batsman beyond parallel, another a mesmerizing bowler and the third, undoubtedly the best all-rounder ever...........

As expected most of the commenters in this forum are against Sachin. It is only in the recent past that India is/was having a strong team. Remember, in the early and mid 90s he carried the team on his shoulder at such a young age. Kallis aand Warne are great but Sachin is a brand. He inspired a lot of people in India and even other countries. Saying that, this idea of selecting a final 3, that too a batsman, an allrounder and a bowler doesnt make sense at all. They should have given a final list of around 10 with a mixture of batsmen, bowler and allrounders. That would have made justice for the likes of Murali, Lara, Ponting, Dravid, Mcgrath, Wasim Akram

There should not be any selection at all. It is obvious that Jaques Kallis is the greatest cricketer of the last two decades. A close second would be actually Adam Gilchrist. What he did in his 10 years of international cricketing career is remarkable. Remember, he made every country look out for their own Adam Gilchrist. One shudders to think what he could have achieved had he played as a pure batsman.By the way I am an Indian.

SRT surely deserves the award, but i will go with Kallis as he is Rahul (In no of catches) + Zaheer (Close to Zaheer in Wickets) + SRT( in Runs scored, he is just short of Sachin and Ricky )

I have a lot of sympathy for the empanelled jury on this.

Trying to choose between those 3 is going to bring down all sorts of ire from the supporters of the ones that miss out. I find myself agreeing with Humdinger on Best X,Y, & Z.

A lot of people forget how good both Tendulkar and Warne were in the field, and Warne is also the highest scoring Test batsman without a century to his name. And Tendulkar was a handy part time spinner.

All three of them were complete cricketers.

It will obviously go to Tendulkar because of the inherent Indian bias in selection as well as readership on the site. You could debate the merits of Kallis or Warne over Tendulkar till you're blue in the face and it wouldn't make a jot of difference. It is a bit of a sham saying there are 3 candidates when only one will be realistically chosen. Remember the title of this award is "cricketer," not solely "batsman," or indeed "bowler," in my opinion that makes Kallis a shoe in considering his all round ability and immense records.

The award is for the greatest cricketer. It is not for the pressure they played under, or how charismatic they were. It is pure cricketing ability. In this sense, the award can only go to Kallis. If there were 3 teams each consisting of 11 of Kallis, Warne and Tendulkar respectively, playing a round robin completion in any format of the game Kallis would win every time. He is the best cricketer.

It should be Sachin. Warne was the greatest spinner of all time and king kallis was always amazing. It is absolutely stunning to see how kallis managed to score all those runs and take those wickets without many fitness issues. However, Warne and Kallis operated in teams where they were never under the pressure of expectation to perform unlike Sachin, who single handedly drove a nation and the sport. He inspired the lives of millions of people. He did slow down after the tennis elbow and also bowled less. Imagine what he was capable of if he did not have those issues with his body. He is undoubtedly the best.

Warne got the cut ahead of Murali? Insane. It can only be Tendulkar, not just because he is the best batsman of his generation but because he dominated for 24 years. His legacy is endurance and consistency.

For me, the winner is all 3. Best Batsmen, Best Bowler and Best All Rounder. How can you compare a Batsmens worth vs a Bowlers? All 3 are in a class of their own and we may never see players like this - hopefully we do. But if I had to pick one, it would have to be Kallis - just the sheer weight of wickets + runs and in all formats.

Contd... What ST couldnt achieve with Srinath, Prasad & Kumble, Ganguly achieved with Zaheer, Nehra & Kumble. It took six shots for ST to nail the WC. Unfortunately, JK couldnt do that after 5 attempts. 2 WC Finals & 2 failures is how ST's record stands. That is not a sign of greatness. Yes it is a team sport. But, to be considered great you must make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. ST failed to do it. The fact that SW is short-listed depsite not being the highest wicket taker tells the impact he had on the team in particular and sport in general. My vote is for Warnie all the way. One of the top 5 cricketers of the century (WISDEN). PS: As per Indian Taxation Records, ST has identified himself as an Actor primarily and Cricket is just secondary profession for him.

They have picked out the date range that perfectly matches Sachin's career, including his retirement year of 2013. Totally fixed, dont even bother.

` Murali got wickets in Sub continent ` ! Then Why Shane has a poor average in India ? Check Murali`s record in ENgland ! If murali played 60% of his matches vs England and NZ he could have taken 1000 Test wickets ! When a batsman score runs in Asia people say he scored runs in Asia so that shouldn`t count ..Now when a bowler get wickets in Asia they are saying they took wickets in Asia so that too doesn`t count ! Its getting ridiculous

no doubt this forum will be full of comments biased towards where everybody comes from, but there is no easy answer, india had a strong batting lineup around sachin, australia a strong bowling lineup around warne and south africa a very balanced side around kallis, all of their impacts were huge and choosing one player as better than the others would be an injustice to the impacts they have had on the game, their performances and the game of cricket itself.

There's a remote chance that we might see the likes of Kallis or even Tendulkar some time in the future. As for Warne, well the appeal of Warne is something else entirely. He was an artist, warrior and scheming general all rolled into one. But more than anything else Warne was pure theatre.

Going by the Award's name - Cricketer of the past 20 years - the choice should be Kallis. A cricketer (unlike a batsman or bowler or WK) must be proficient in most of the skills of the game. That is the reason why although Bradman was called the greatest batsman, Sobers was called the greatest cricketer - as he could bat, bowl all sorts of deliveries besides being a good fielder. Applying the same kind of logic, Sachin we can call the greatest batsman of the last 20 years (Lara/Ponting close runners ups), Warne the best bowler (Murali, Akram come very close) and Kallis the best cricketer. There is no runner-up to Kallis. But, I am sure, SRT will win this award once again!!

For me, Tendulkar must be the winner. The populations of South Africa and Australia are minuscule compared to India, and cricket is not even the most popular sport in these two countries. Sachin however, led an entire nation of nearly a billion cricket lovers for two decade. The pressure the guy must have felt to perform for his hundreds of millions fans and still managed to perform time again is phenomenal.

Sachin top scorer in 2 WCs 96 & 2003 & 2nd top scorrer in 3rd WC 2011 & have won most Man of the Match awards in ODI 65 @ MOM every 7 match rate only 2nd to Viv Richards. Sachin destroyed arch rivals Pak in 4 out of total 5 WC encounters. He won MOM in 6 out of 8 Tournament finals that India won while he was in the team (Only exceptions being Natwest & WC 2011), That shows the importance of Sachin in Indian ODI team, That Ind couldn't win any final without Sachin's brilliance.

In tests Kallis is above him on rate based stats but on gross stats Sachin is above all.

Considering ODI & Tests Sachin is way above all except DON

For me, sheer numbers cannot dictate the greatness of a sportsman. It is the impact he has on the game itself. In case of ST, we have seen a great batsman before him in Sir Don and we are seeing a great batsman after him in Virat. So it is just scoring those extra runs which makes Sachin special to some without any impact on the game. In case of JK, it is his ability to contribute in more ways and do it equally well. So I think he has better chance than ST. But, SW is the one who saved the Art of leg-spin from being obsolete. His grit & determination on the field is unmatched. Eg: WC 96 SF, WC 99 SF & Final. Most people take SW for granted saying he played in a great team without giving credit that he was one of those who made OZ a great team. ST was part of a strong team as well. But couldnt achieve anything on his own. India had to wait for Ganguly to give a belief and direction to Indian Cricket. Contd

Sachin Tendulkar...He is the cricketer who transformed one generation to the cricketing field..Many people in this generation including me in my state started to play cricket only because of SRT...still many of the people has Sachin's photos in their home..I never heard of any reception like this to any cricketer in any ages...And I am sure, more than a cricketer his humble character helped him to gain this sort of support in the world..he always controlled his emotions and he replied with his bat - still remember H.Olonga, S.Akthar, A. Caddick , all faced the heat of SRT...I still remember how he handled Abdul Razakk's ball tampering comments in South Africa..He always kept his cool behavior , which is something most of the cricketers should learn...so if we talk about generation, then I am sure for the coming years as well he will be a role mode...A man who lived only for cricket, and a man whom cricket loved back should be the cricketer of this generation..Godspeed..

we know how crucial Sachin's wicket was during the late 90s and after that when he was playing. All the members of the opponent team wanted Sachin's wicket and they knew that with the wicket f sachin the game would have been in their hands whereas this was not the case with the Aus team and SA team with the wicket or presence of Warne and Kallis as they had other great players too like Mc Grath and Alland Donald etc..ut without sachin India team was over, thats it.

Reading the names of the people on the selection committee, I have doubts. What was the selection criteria of this committee?

Best Batsman-Sachin Best Bowler-Warne Best Cricketer-Kallis!

how could they cut off murali?

Is it possible to compare Kallis and Sachin.My guess is hmm not really based on their responsibilies and roles they played in them teams.Lets compare apples to apples.All said let the best man win it is a competitive world we live in

@ Hareendra, Murali played 73% of his matches in the sub continent while Warne played only 15%.

I am an Afghan and want to share what i know, Surely it has to be Sachin Tendulkar.. We know how he has managed the indian team and his cricket for those 24 years he spent with Cricket. The records he has made certainly had always their effect with the result of the game and we know those records have not gone in vain. Also during he came to indian team, Team India was not performing as its doing now a days and did not have its affect as it has now which means he won the world cup, ipl, champions league and made Team India reah its peak and then left the game after producing so many victories and prducing so many other batsmen which we see now adays in team India..if you go fr allrounder then it must be Sanath Jaysouria not Kallis .. so i hope Sachin win the event

@ Hareendra, both Warne and Murali played the Warne played the majority of his tests in Australia where there is really only one ground that was favourable to spin bowling, the SCG. Compare this to Murali who played the majority of his matches in the Sub-continent. Both bowlers transform their sides, top quality spinners will do that. You also claim that Warne played most of his cricket against weak England and W.I sides yet both bowlers played these teams in the same era as they both started test match cricket around the same time. Murali would have gotten 'easy wickets' against Eng and WI just as Warne did. Murali also didn't play "most of his matches against India and Pakistan", in fact he nearly played all teams about equally. Also Warne didn't have any bowling laws changed to accomodate him.

JK is truely a great all rounder SW no doubt the legspin genious So having them on the list is right. But SRT is above these two sheerly because of the impact he has on the game in india as well as abroad.

As far as numbers are concerned please cricket is not only about test cricket It is also about limited over cricket and cricket world cup is the tournament which is the only tournament non cricket playing countries know about the cricket. And in the world cups see the record of tendulkar and you will see who is the best.

So combinely if you take test cricket and one-day cricket togetherly in 93-13 period you will see none other than tendulkar was best.

Clearly Sachin. Averaging 40 or above in every country sets him way apart from the rest.

well, I'm sure Sachin's going to win this hands down, but in an ideal world I guess there's none more deserving than Kallis; To put things into perspective- I feel he's better than Sobers; its just the aura of the West Indian teams of the yester years which make us think that Sobers was better... Kallis was a batting giant, as good as any great player in history and he was a mainstay in the pace battery too(which is as good as it gets for an allrounder).... He has scored tons of runs on all pitches including subcontinent ones; he has picked up nearly as many wickets as Zaheer Khan in tests and ODIs at an almost similar avg! According the the title of the award, Kallis is the CRICKETER (not batsman or bowler alone) of the generation.

Well a tough tough ask here.... But a simple question to the panel... Just remove Kallis from SA and Warne from Aus and SRT from India... and Imagine where the team would have been today.... Where the cricket would have been in that country...

If you see this... Warne was phenomial... But Aus had so many other batting legends, bowling greats like Mc Grath etc who were as good as Warne and supported quite welll.... Same for Kaliis... SA would have still been in a decent position had kallis not been there.... But without Sachin.... You cannot Imagine Indian surgence in the world cricket and in India especially... People may or may not expect but he is the phenomenon or the sole reason where India is right now in the world Cricket... When every child wanted to become Sachin... has given so much Young talent....

Just analyze this and you will get the answer

Kallis is really lucky to make the list...I don't think Kallis really performed well against the great Australian team which included McGrath & Warne in their attack & his record against AUS is nothing to shout about & also his record against ENG in ENG is pathetic to say the least.....Unlike Sachin, Kallis didn't have to face Pollock, Donald, Fanie de villiers,steyn & morkel.....he rarely dominated the bowling attacks unlike SRT..Lara is unlucky to miss the list...B/w SRT & Warne, i would pick SRT!!

Overall, in my opinion its a match between Sachin and Kallis. if it was restricted to just ODIs, Sanath Jayasuriya would also figure in as a batting all rounder,while Shaun Pollock should have been a definite challenger to kallis in both forms(in my view, he was the complete allrounder of his generation.Here's proof http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/46774.html). Now overall,we have to choose between Kallis and Sachin. In terms of style,aesthetic beauty,longevity and the inspiration sachin brought to the table,he wins hands down.In terms of professionalism,rigor,hard work and versatility,Kallis is the winner.In the end it all comes down to who you like better,because statistics are too close to call.And here,I must admit I fall in favor of Tendulkar,not because maths suggest so,not because he is from India,but because he succeeded in an environment and setup which is inhibitory to sports at best and a certain killjoy and disaster at worst.Sorry Kallis.

Posted by sachin_equal_to_bradman on (March 13, 2014, 10:10 GMT) Guys.Let me kep my points here. As a sportsperson the toughest situation is PLAYINg UNDER PRESSURE. This is what sachin has done for 24 years!!! Did LARA,WARNE,KALLIS even DON played with such expectation and pressure all the time?

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What absolute nonsense. Bradman played for 20 years. Punctuated by a little thing known as WW2. In which he fought. Captained the Invincibles. He played with the nation on his shoulders. He faced Bodyline. He averaged a tick under 100. No-one comes close to Bradman on any measure. He triumphed over massive pressure and torrential expectation. He is arguably the greatest sports player of all time - EVEN to the Americans. Tendulkar and everyone else can't be mentioned in the same breath.

Why do people like you persist and go on and on trying to diminish his achievements?

Sachin, Kalis, Shane my picks

In ODIs,Kallis the batsman was still formidable and would rank in top 10 of any list.However,Kallis the batsman will almost certainly never be ranked equal to the best in ODIs(Sachin hands down.Only viv richards is comparable(or for some better) statistically and he is not in the generation we are studying), because of his slower scoring rate and COMPARATIVELY inferior records(and average of 44.9 is impressive but Sachin had the same average at a much higher strike rate.).As a bowler,Kallis is much more impressive in ODIs than tests and would be ranked average as a pure bowler only. Here, he is a certified allrounder. However, in ODIs Sachin the bowler is also significant.Not an allrounder,but significant contributor in bowling(especially in the first half of his career). Warne the ODI bowler is not good enough to be called the best and would probably come in latter half of top 10 bowlers. So ODIs give you Sachin>Kallis>Warne.

My choice is Kallis without a doubt. For someone to attain more runs than Dravid and similar number of wickets as Zaheer Khan, just explains the power of this allrounder. He is simply the best. To do this on bouncy wickets all over the world. Not playing on flat wickets for 15 years of his career.

Below factors make him outstanding than the other two

1. Scoring first 200 hundred in history of ODI at the age of 37 2. Only Batsman Scoring 100 Centuries in International Cricket 3. Highest WC runs by any batsman 4. Only Indian batsman to get Orange Cap in IPL which is T20 format 5. He represented country of 1.2 billion population and he lived up to that!!! All in all, he fits into any format of Cricket.

Warne: A great cricketer, a bowling icon, not a role model Kallis: A great cricketer, a cricketing icon, a role model for cricketers Tendulkar: A great cricketer, an icon, a role model. Tendulkar all the way. Case closed.

It has to be Kallis or Warne. Tendulkar made some bid scores occasionally but never changed many games himself. Warne certainly did.

In tests, Jacques Kallis would triumph over Sachin and Warne because he had fairly considerable contributions as a bowler.Kallis was not a complete allrounder(an allrounder is a person who can make it into the team both as a batsman and a bowler.Kallis couldn't make it as a bowler at less than 2 wickets per match), but given his contributions to the test team, he was the most valuable player in test cricket for 20 yrs.After all almost 300 test wickets is no joke.Add 200 catches. As a batsman alone, he was equivalent to the best if not better. So in TESTS, it is Kallis>Sachin=Warne(both belonged to a team which had the best in their respective categories-Australia with the ball(Lee,Mcgrath and gillespie) and India with the bat(Dravid,Laxman and ganguly-sehwag).So, statistically, Kallis the test player is the most important of them all.

If Compare All the three Legend How Can We Compare These Three With Fields? I have a solution.... Consider all three fields Batting,Bowling & Fielding.We can Find the true legend.So by getting points from all three fields there is only one option that is "SIR JACQUES KALLIS"

Undoubtably JK......he is the King...

I never understand people saying Tendulkar had more pressure; if he got out, he knew he had Laxman, Dravid or Ganguly to come in and rectify the situation. Lara literally carried the Windies for years; he scored nearly a quarter of their runs, Tendulkar only scored 15% of India's. Lara was clearly the more important batsman for his team. Warne really should win this hands down; out of the three, he revolutionised the game far more than SRT or Kallis, he's the best player of the last 50 years.

With the exception of Kallis, I do not think either of the other 2 should be in the first 3. Is this also been driven by the big 3? My first 3 by a big margin would be Kallis, Murali, and Lara (in a perfect world that is with impartial judges). In the first 8, I would add Tendulkar, Akram, Viv Richards, Hadlee, and Warne.

There is no comparison between Murali and Warne whether on the field, off the field, statistics, records, aggregates, quality or simply cricketing conduct - Murali is miles ahead of Warne (except for batting). Similarly the case for Lara against Tendulkar who played for the team and impact of the overall result of the match. Clear Prejudice here by the selectors in the panel. Signs of big 3 impact?

This is unfair for the following reasons. 1) The panel of judges have more Indians than of other nationalities. 2) Fan poll would mean only one winner Sachin, so unfair all other players in the list. 3) Cricket is a team game, so contributions to winning cause matters most than pure stats. Warne>Sachin>Kallis... Must win game, big finals you know who you want. If Cricinfo wants to be fair it should have player of the last 20 years from each country. Ind-Sachin, Aus-Warne>Gilchrist, SA-Kallis, WI-Lara, SL-Murali, Pak-Wasim, Eng-KP/Freddie, NZ-Bond, Zim-Andy Flower.

sachin , Murali & Lara would be the greatest cricketer in last decade. sanath jayasuriya make 13000 runs & 369 wickets in ODI so that he would be the best allrounder, not kallis

This got me thinking of picking 2 legend teams from the last 20 years of Cricinfo. Since Australia dominated that period it can be Australi v ROW. What do you all think? Test arena.

Australia: 1. Hayden 2. Taylor 3. Ponting 4. Clarke 5. M.Waugh 6. S.Waugh* 7. Gilchrist + 8. Warne 9. Johnson 10. McDermott 11. McGrath

ROW 1. Sewag 2. Chanderpaul 3. Lara 4. Tendulkar 5. Dravid 6. Kallis 7. Flower + 8. Wasim 9. Ambrose 10. Waqar 11. Murali

Speaking of impact, you just have to see where Indian cricket was BEFORE Tendulkar arrived to the scene. Apparently, they had to pay teams like West Indies and Australia to convince them to tour India. And by the time Tendulkar retired, India had become a cricketing giant!

I think in the debate of Murali vs Warne, there are many factors that contribute to Murali being the better bowler. Sheer number of wickets in both Test and ODI Better average and strike rate Number of Man-of-the-match awards

Murali was the bowler who made an average SL team into one of the best. I fail to see such a transformation made by Warne. Murali was the greatest contributing factor to SL victories in specially Tests.

Many claim that Murali got, around 180 wickets against the minnows Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. During Warne's heyday, he played a majority of his matches against England and West Indies. During that period, both those teams were complete bunnies when it came to playing spin bowling. Hence, getting wickets against such teams was easy.

Also, Murali played most of his matches against teams (India, Pakistan) with batsmen who were excellent players of spin.

I think the way this competition is setup, its rigged to give Sachin the award.

I guess we all know who ll win it dont we..??

Guys.Let me kep my points here. As a sportsperson the toughest situation is PLAYINg UNDER PRESSURE. This is what sachin has done for 24 years!!! Did LARA,WARNE,KALLIS even DON played with such expectation and pressure all the time? And to be consistent for 24 years and playing 50 over and tests and holding so many records(Almost All batting records) is next to impossible!!! Take Kallis...Did he perform exceptionally well like sachin in WC? WC is the biggest and most Pressure stage. Even LARA failed in world cups. LARA is not as great in ODI. Had tendulkar concentrated only in tests (Like LARA) then he would have been as dominant and equal to lara! Playing both 50 over and tests in turn could affect your tests technique which did not happen to sachin. Had these players been in SACHIN'S pressure and expectations am sure they would have retired even without 70-80 tests played!!! This is why he is class apart from rest

If you just considered Test cricket, it would be heard to decide. But then when you take ODIs into consideration, there's only going to be one winner. And on top of that, no cricketer has had an impact on the sport like he has. He doesn't even need to be named - unarguably cricket's biggest icon over the past two decades!

The player of this generation, for captaincy, all-round skills, and grit to lift his team when it mattered was Steve Waugh, even though he was only playing for the first half of the period in question. He s

seems like WASIM AKRAM, LARA and Murali played in 1960s and cannot be coincided

Kallis could do all 3 disciplines unlike all the others!!!!

Just reading all this makes me think how lucky we were to see these stars in the last generation. I grew up watching them. Golden era.

Kallis? Please! He stood at slip and let balls bounce off the bat into his hands. He stood at the crease and let balls bounce off his bat for runs. He bowled wide of off stump and had other people take catches. Put him in a cage fight with Botham and feed his remains to the vultures (Rhodes, Boucher and Smith). I wouldn't put Kallis in a team, full stop.

Seems an pointless argument to me - each of these players were exceptional cricketers,this choice is like picking an exceptional white wine, red wine and dessert wine and the being forced to say which is the best wine - idiotic.

However, if forced you might have to come down for Kallis on the basis that he is indisputably the greatest all rounder of his generation, whereas one could make a sound case for other bowlers, or even batsmen. There is so much clear blue water between Kallis and his nearest rival that that alone sets him above Sachin and Warne.

As opposed to that, Sachin performed for so long and with such insane pressure on him that you could argue for him.

Warne, was in my view, the most exciting to watch, had the greatest impact on the development of the game, and had the best "cricket brain" of the lot so maybe it should be him. As I say, an interesting, but pointless, argument.

For me Tendulkar is not that great cricketer. Kallis should win this title.Kallis is 2 in 1 and tendulkar is only the batsman. I never follow him. I do understand he has score most century and most runs , but that doesnt natter for me. I enjoy when u can take wickets and score few runs when under the pressure. Kallis has done that for his country. I support Australia but i even support Warne. Dont get me wrong Indian fans.

I have seen all the great ones,since the 70's. It is my personal opinion that the greatest cricketer/s of our generation is Brian Lara as a batsman and Muttiah Muralitaran is the best bowler....of our generation. They both have the ultimate record of proof. This is just another sham to idolize Tendulkar.

Test cricketer of this generation - Nominees are : Lara, Dravid ODI of this generation - Nominees are : Sachin, Sanath Bowlers of this generation Test - Murali, Warne, Kumble ODI - Murali, Akram All rounder of this generation - No nominees, Kallis is the winner. If you choose to give it to an icon - no nominees, Sachin is the winner.

Yes, Warne is a legend but succeeded only against ENG, SA and other small teams. But he is not as good as Murali. Unfair nominations.

Murali not being included makes this a joke immediately. Warne was great; Murali was definitely greater.

Sounds Funny to me..3 legends and belong to 3 different categories of Cricket 1.Shan warne (Bowler) 2.Sachin Tendulker (Batsmen) 3.Jacque Kallis ( All Rounder ) How can u compare these 3 in a similar category?? if u have to award someone he has to be compare with another person in the same field,Bowler Vs Bowler , batsmen vs batsmen, All rounder vs All rounder

There's one person of the three that was a game changer in terms of cricket: Warne. When he arrived on the scene suddenly leg spin bowling was being talked about, and his personality drew people in. He could win games single-handedly. Let's not forget how good a lower order batsman he was, and what a fantastic slip fielder too. He's also probably one of the best cricket brains never to captain (at least for any kind of duration). I also think some of the personal problems he's had humanises him. Even though I'm English he's probably my favourite ever player.

Kallis was probably the best cricketer (maybe ever) in terms of what he achieved personally when it comes to numbers. However he doesn't have the mystique or aura that Warne does.

Tendulkar is a testament to what you can do with natural talent and the desire to keep playing, and to continually reinvent yourself. My favourite cricketer in terms of being an outstanding human being, without doubt. He defines humility.

As the things stand Tendulkar. It appears that the BCCI have deliberately introduced this award in order to tribute their greatest (statistically)

On this forum the vast quantity of Indians who take part will guarantee the vote goes to Tendulkar.

Kallis stands only with Sobers and Wally Hammond as complete cricketers. But he comes from a country which has not nearly the voice that India, Pakistan and Australia have. Perhaps he will get votes from England, like mine.

What about Flintoff? He played 3 amazing Tests in 2005 and we remember him as a consistent performer. And Vaughan, he had 6 amazing months in 2002, and lived off that for the rest of his career? Ponting = LEGEND. Gilchrist? Aravinde De Silva? Every nation (except Zim and Bang) have a legend to offer except England and NZ. If this was an era before, Botham, Gower, Hadlee for certain, perhaps Gooch, Crowe. I always like Waqar, absolute king! Chanderpaul? Ambrose? I think Stewart deserves a mention. And Thorpe.

"Saccin - Biggest Icon the game has ever known"? Quick question - What was his average? Does he have an Iconic average? Don't think so! The Don is still streets in front of him!! No-one will ever be ale to come close to the Don! But I think that @Niketh2000 you're on to something there!!

It clearly appears that some fans will be biased in wanting one of their players chosen & others are aggrieved why one of theirs do not make the top three. The nomination of these top three players are not just based on their career statistics but the fact that they also performed consistently very well both home & away - unlike some others who have amazing records at home but dismal ones abroad! Some have caused controversy in some performances on the field & this too perhaps explains why they have not been nominated. So all in all taking these factors into account, the nomination of JK, SW & ST in the top three is very fair in my opinion. Even though I am a die-hard Indian fan, I would give the award to JK as being a top seam-bowling all-rounder for so long has been simply amazing in view of the amount of cricket too played these days. It must have taken a huge toll on his body but he still somehow stayed fit in excelling with both bat & ball plus was a brilliant fielder too.

There is another legend, a leg spinner better than Warne if he had the proper chance. His same was J.Tailor, played and captained Hong Kong U19 in 2001. Apparently the best leg spinner ever. He was lost to medicine.

To me the top three cricketers of my generation are Sachin, Lara and Warne. Players like Kallis and Ponting rose to their peak post the retirement of great bowlers in the 90s and early 2000s.

Tendulkar, Lara, Warne , Ponting, Mcgrath , Akram, Waqar, Donald, Ambrose, Steyn, Hayden made me watch the sport. Kallis didnt.

think sachin is the player of the generation..he is one of those players who have played throughout the era we r toking abt and has been a consistent performer..he is rightfully the god od cricket and I dnt think anyone can beat god..ya kallis can be second fiddle to god but when it comes to cricket there has not been an ambassador like sachin. His demeanor on and off the field is unparalleled and the likes of kallis and warne are legends but cant compete with the little master. I dnt knw who will win this award of cricketer of generation but to me when u tok abt cricket there is an image which pops up in ur mind instantly and dat is of sachin. that I think seals the deal..:-)

Murali is better than warne..unfair selection..

Lets Be realistic Kallis nor Warne can win something like this, the reason is because INDIA has one of the greatest populations, and lets just say Tendulkar was from my country (West Indies) wouldn't i vote for him?

It will be a tough choice between Kallis and SRT but my vote will be for SRT because of the influence he brought into the game and to his country.

Many kids grew up wanting to be a Sachin and most of them are playing for their national sides now! SRT was a breath of fresh air to the Sub Continent - this apart from the numerous records he holds!

The on and off the field behavior sets SRT and Kallis apart from Warne, and this is the main reason I think he wont be in contention - coz being a cricketer is not just abt records, centuries, runs and wickets but also about how you carry yourself as an ambassador of the game and of your country. No offense Warney, I still love to see you on the field as a player!

@SoyQuearns: I totally agree. Sachin is a legend, without a doubt, but I think his reputation outgrew his ability in the end. While he was the longest playing cricketer, he was certainly not the best. Kallis' record stands above Sachin's, and Sangakkara's may too by the time he's done. It would be a pity to see Kallis get passed over; as far as 'cricketers' go, they don't come better than him. He was undoubtedly the greatest cricketer of our generation, and I think if this award went to Sachin it would be in recognition of his status and not his record. I may well incur the wrath of several hundred million Indian fans here, but Sachin was simply not the greatest. As for Warne, he certainly deserves his spot over Murali. Warne was a better all-round cricketer, and took nearly all of his wickets against top tier opposition, as opposed to Murali who took nearly 200 against minnows.

if the vote is purely on records then kallis gets the vote by a mile. no contest there. but it is obviously not. stats alone are difficult to make such a decision. Tendulkar no doubt deserve his place in history. he is a legend. I still rate lara though as the best batsman of this generation. I agree with both Dravid and Greg Chappell in this assessment.

I think sachin is the player of the generation..he is one of those players who have played throughout the era we r toking abt and has been a consistent performer..he is rightfully the god od cricket and I dnt think anyone can beat god..ya kallis can be second fiddle to god but when it comes to cricket there has not been an ambassador like sachin. His demeanor on and off the field is unparalleled and the likes of kallis and warne are legends but cant compete with the little master. I dnt knw who will win this award of cricketer of generation but to me when u tok abt cricket there is an image which pops up in ur mind instantly and dat is of sachin. that I think seals the deal..:-)

May be SRT will win because most of the panel is indian but i would rate Kallis above them all. He is head & shoulders above the rest of cricketers of this generation. There can not be a complete player as Kallis. He was a team man, a good swing bowler, tremendous slip catcher and the legend of a batsman. He was colossus of an allrounder. So i think he should win, he is the most deserving.

I think Sachin Tendulkar should get the award for the most over-rated sportsman of all time.

No Brian Lara? That's pretty ridiculous.. No Wasim Akram even.. More ridiculous..

As a cricketer modest raw model for every young man it has to be SAHIN.

Somehow the Greatest Captain of the generation Ricky "The Punter" Ponting misses out.

How funny!!! someone can as many vote as he/she want. This is injustice. group of people can rise vote highly for one.

Guys if you go to see by the numbers.... Then Tendulkar is way ahead than kallis.... if we assume that one wicket=20 runs as they say that a five wicket Haul is equal to a century... Then The number of international wickets taken by kallis is 565 the number of wickets taken by Tendulkar is 200 I.e kallis = 11, 300 runs whereas sachin = 4000 runs...

now lets add these to the runs they have scored while batting :-

Kallis :- 24863 + 11300 = 36163 whereas Tendulkar :- 34347 + 4000= 38347

Hence proving that Tendulkar was far more a better cricketer than kallis...

Super debate. Tendulkar was an icon, but he never scored the runs when India needed them most. He was treated like a god in India by all communities, especally by the Gujarati contingent who never had their own hero. And since he was from Mumbai, he always will have that presence. Dravid played the great innings, shame about his last series v Australia when his average dipped below 40 (against Australia). Who can forget his 180 in 2001 or his 3 100s in the 4-0 defeat England. Murali took a lot of cheap wickets against Bang and Zim and his record v Aus is dreadful. I would say Warne was better despite an average of 47 v India. Lara carried Wes Indies, his series in 1999 v Aus belonged to the ages. Kallis is so underated.

Waste of time and unfair on the sportsmen in the fray! Why would you want to and how can you compare Apples & Oranges!?

If Tendulkar is in fray, why is a voting still required? Or are they trying to find out who all doesnt votes for Tendulkar?

With no disrespect to King Kallis,who has done wonders to the Game,one should also think about what all Sachin has done to the game,the country and the entire Cricketing fraternity.. He was the reason behind the Yuvrajs,Pujaras and still plenty of cricketers who first took bat dreaming of him. One cannot cover three generation of players unless he is not one like Sachin, the consistency,the flair,the dedication and the CLASS. If we could argue that if Kallis was a bowler he would have overtaken Warney , the same applies to good to SRT also since he was not asked to bowl citing shoulder concerns and we all know how effective an bowler he was. Kallis,Warney,Ponting,Lara,Murali,Sangakkara,Wasim all are great. It needs to be a Sachin to stand one step higher than these.. Easy to differentiate "That pumping in your heart when you see Sachin on strike wont come towards others even when they are at their peak".. We are associated to Sachin's batting so much so that we never wanted him retired

Sachin a great batsman , Warne a great bowler , Kallis a great batsman..great bowler and a great fielder.

Kallis gets my vote !

To all the Murali supporters, there's no doubt that he was a fantastic bowler but Warne bowled leg spin which is easily the hardest art of the game to master and he was an absolute master at it. He had all kinds of variations and landed the ball where ever he pleased all while extracting unfathomable turn. Sure, Murali took more wickets but he took a combined 176 wickets against the minnow teams Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Warne only took a total of 17, yes that's right only 17 against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. People also don't realise Warne scored over 3000 test runs with 9 half centuries. He was also a fantastic slips fielder (Flemming might not agree). Murali was a bunny with the bat and certainly not the sharpest fielder. I know who I would rather have in my team.

Tendulkar for sure. Considering he was playing for the entire generation as well as his talent. The other two look like blips on the radar by comparison. Kallis second tho, and Warne a distant third, tho I think Murali should be there, not Warne.

Tendulkar all the way , for his away records against .. warne, Mcgrath. lee. ambrose, walsh, allan donald, shaun pollock, murli, kallis, bond, gough, fraser, gillspie, wasim akram, waqar, saqlain ... and many more ...

He has demolished career of bowlers like HEath davis, Olanga .. and many more ...

His ablity to score runs outside india is the key point against attacks mentioned above

Sepathie, I don't think anyone would rate Bangas and Zimbabwe in the same league as England and West Indies - even in the era you mentioned. What an insult to the likes of Alec Stewart, Freddy Flintoff, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul et al.

I'm not saying Murali doesn't deserve his place in the top couple of BOWLERS of the generation, but this award is for top CRICKETER. Massive difference.

With that criteria in mind, it's a very close call between SRT and Kallis. Those guys are absolute giants of the game; a mile ahead of everyone else in terms of statistics, on/off field demeanor and influence on the game of cricket. I can't separate them.

I'm picturing the tears of a million Sachin fanboys when Sachin doesn't 'win' this award. Truth be told, Sachin isn't even the greatest batsmen of his generation.

Let's hope integrity and unbiased judgment stands up against the weight of fanboy expectation.

Kallis is my most favorite cricketer but i feel the award should go to Tendulkar. Taking tendulkar's bowling capabilities into consideration he could have been a great bowler as well but his captains always held him back and saved his energy for batting. Kallis was a team man, he ll get into the scorecard of everymatch with batting or bowling or catching. Complete cricket man. But SRT made people watch cricket, has been a great ambassador to cricket, without a great advertisement to cricket I for one wouldnt even be aware of Kallis back then during my kiddays. Award should rightfully belong to SRT and Kallis. Warne? Nah. I'd rate Wasim, Mcgrath and Murali above him as a bowler and as a person. Anytime.

I think the reason Warne might have been picked over Murali is that Warne took more wickets away from the sub-continent (less favourable conditions and weaker opposition linke Banga), Warne was higher profile amongst the English speaking press, Warne had to contend with the fact that McGrath was taking a lot of the wickets he might have taken.. I'm not sure any of those are valid arguments for leaving Murali out of the running - he has changed the way finger spinners bowl. On final thing Warne did more than Murali (apart form texting) - I think he probably won more games for his country. However Murali won games for his country when they were less than stellar performers as well. Tendulkar will win anyway - there's billion people in India alone. That's a fairly solid voting base. Bottom line on stats alone Jacques Kallis wins hands down..

I think it has to be kallis or tendulkar. No 1 else. to me Kallis is best. because he was a great all rounder and thus had more effect on game with his bowling as well. when you consider his wickets there then you can certainly pick it up. Tendulkar was no doubt a great batsman and i think will remain so for decades. no 1 will ever beat his achievements . but if you have to choose based on what most we can get then it can be kallis as he got 577 wickets as well.

sssaaaccchhhiiiinn the best cricketer the world has ever seen and will ever see!! legend doesnt do him justice! your the best Tendulkar!!!

One and only Sachin Tendulkar should get this. Respect from Pakistan :')

I would go for Kallis or Tendulkar. Warne? No way, he is a disgrace on filed as well as off field. This is no ordinary award so the winner should be someone honourable. I will leave up to you to judge if Warnie is honourable!

give sachin. ..who cares. but I will rather watch Lara bat anyway...anytime...

Cam down guys. These are 3 names for batting, bowling and allrounders. For all rounders, no one can overtake Kallis. As for Warne and Murali, I guess Warne was much more affective than Murali. The argument that Warne's wickets were taken away by others is stupid because he was part of a great attack and did not have to work as hard for his wicekts as Murali who was a lone fighter.

As for batsmen, lara certainly was a legend but the truth is when you look at Tendulkar's record, though i am not a big fan of numbers, it is not easy to say Lara was better than Sachin.

All the wasim fans. He was great no doubt but murali was better. Accept it and please dont degrade other cricketers as there are skeletons hanging in wasims closet too which would be better to be left there..

SRT had a weakness. A rookie bowler can get him out. Any one will do. SRT will get him in the next match but in the first meeting bowler gets the better of him. I suspect the race would be between SRT and Kallis. For murali supporters I am with you. He was better than Warnie. A gentle cricketer and he gets my vote over warnie anyday. Warnie was more a showbiz personality.

I just had a look at the poll results showing Tendulkar on top. It seems most of the people voting were Indians. To me Kallis is a complete cricketer who could enter any cricketing eleven as a bowler or a batsman. No other person could be called a complete cricketer if he cannot contribute to all the three facets of sport (batting, Bowling and fielding). Tendulkar could be a great batsman, Warne could be great bowler (but what about Murlitharan / Wasim). There should be a list and criteria to be agreed first.

Whoever wins this, I would say "well deserved"! All three of them had wonderful careeers. It should be best 5 cricketers of the generation.

Sachin Warne Murali Ponting/Lara Kallis

It's a very big debate why Murali is not included in the short list of three. How can you forget the leading wicket taker in Test this fast?? Can some one tell me why Shane Warne earns honer instead of Murali???

Dear Jason Do you know your warne took most of wickets with subtanded England and west indies. ( late 90s and early 2000s) I think its about 200 wickets. And he played about 30 tests more than Murali. Still He could not catch Murali. Just live in your dreams. You will never catch Murali.......

Sachin will win this. But if I was the sole one who gave this award then I would give it to Kallis. It's about the greatest Cricketer.

Kallis from South Africa did greater contributions to his team than the other two from India and Australia respectively. Kallis almost scared us by trying to knock off Tendulkar's run tally and if he had played only as a bowler then he might have scared Warne's wicket tally as well. So a fair call would be Jacques Kallis.

Big Three will be a real issue for world cricket. Murali is well ahead of Warne.. both are greatest spinners ever in history. No problems with Tendulkar & Kallis..

Yes. While agreeing with the other two choices unreservedly, the choice of Warne leaves me befuddled. How can you ignore Murali, who has taken 800 test wickets, not to mention 534 in the one-dayers. This compares with Warne's 708 and 293 respectively? There's absolutely NO comparison on figures. Is it something to do with his action, which was cleared by the ICC, or is it that he's black?

Some might add Ponting, Lara and Wasim into the argument - All great in there own rights. However, both Ponting and Lara failed badly in India against top class spin (even if Lara dominated Murali in SL). Wasim was the best fast bowler to come out of Asia but his record would not be as great (great none-the-less) if compared to other great fast bowlers from elsewhere eg. McGrath and Marshall. Best way to compare Tendulkar, Warne and Kallis is to study their performance against each other. I think Tendulkar totally dominated Warne where as Warne dominated Kallis (to a certain extent). Kallis and Tendulkar shared honors fairly evenly in SA-India series over time. WINNER TENDULKAR, by some distance even if you don't take his longevity into account.

Big 3 nominating players from there league why not "Wasim Akram", how can you miss the legend and how can you give a award to Kallis if he is still playing for their team. I know indians wants to give all the awards to "Sachin" because these hypocrites think he is the only best batsman in this world but remember this legend goes out on duck from Sohaib and can't play dosra of ajmal :)

Murali's Records are far greater than any of the cricketers name above. He has the highest test wickets, highest one day wickets. He has the best test match bowling analysis in this generation.( taken in England- 15 wickets) Once he hold the record for best one day bowling. He has the highest 5 and 10 wickets hauls in test cricket. And his averages and economy rate is far better than Warne. And still his name is not there. Simple reason, he is from a 3rd world country and the other rich and powerful cricketing nations cannot stand it.

If a reasonable and a rational criteria is adopted in terms of genuine contributions to the respective teams, apart from favors, it is undoubtedly Jacque Kallis who will edge Tendulkar in every aspect.

No real comparison Warne vs Murali. Yes, he took more wickets but 150+ of them were against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, many of them on home pitches. Also, there was no McGrath, Gillespie and Lee at the other end, who between them took over 1000 scalps. We will never know how many wickets were taken from Warne from those guys, although I can see the argument that as a bowling unit, they sg=hared them in about the right proportions anyway.

Who would you want to bat for your life: Warne or Murali? Warne was one no-ball away from a Test ton; Murali could throw the bat at No. 11 but would hardly be classed as a batsman. Warne by a mile, no contest.

Lastly, who would you want in a key catching position? Say, in the slips? Another point to Warne, The Lankans would have hidden Murali in the pavilion if they could get away with it.

All in all: Warne had far greater impact on the game.

Surely, Murali should be ahead of Warne in this one. And Lara should be their in place of Kallis.

If it was top cricketer in history then Viv Richards and Bradman along with Lillee and a few others would come into the fray. However, this concerns the new generation and there is no doubt that Tendulkar wins this hands down. For all of Kallis's all-round achievements and Warne's charisma, Tendulkar has dominated for a far longer period. In fact, Tendulkar can he considered a player of TWO GENERATIONS as opposed to one!! Not just Tests but Tendulkar has been even further ahead in ODI's.

This is very unfair to have Warne instead of Murali...

Where's Wasim Akram name, i suppose he's there interms of batting and bowling too.

only sachin ramesh Tendulkar Never warne or kaliis has that much expectation that sachin has,,,,on feild and off the field he is true bharat ratan......what else he has to achieve,,,,most runs,most 100, most matches

Wasim Akram was far a better cricketer than Sachin, Mark and Kallis. What Wasim did was far difficult since fast bowling is much more cruel department.

I think awards should be given in each category. Let me clarify it. We should vote for three categories i.e. best batsman , best bowler and best all rounder. We can never compare Sachin with Shane Warne because both are having different talents. One is a bowler and the other one is a batsman. How can we say that Sachin is best or Warne is best. Even in the case of bowlers , we can go for further categories like best fast bowler and best spinner.

In this way , we can really justify the talents of these legends. Comparing Sachin with Shane Warne or with Wasim Akram doesn't make sense at all.

with all the due respect to all im posting after great disappointment I wonder y Mr. Warne name was in the final list over murali,,, (or may be he is not a Naughty boy as Warne) not to worry murali for a fact i know that he is not running behind such fame n name he already won billions of hearts then any other player... but still i go with Kallis even his name was included....

Let's face it! most of the cricket money currently comes from India. So, why did India fall in love with cricket? some say the triumph of '83 is the impetus, agreed. But, for cricket to be embraced for the next 28 years despite poor results is only because of Tendulkar. He really did inspire a generation and so a major reason for cricket being where it is today. Purely cricketing terms, the best cricketer is always debatable; but this should go to SRT, not like her cares for yet another award anyway.

my question- This generation means which time period?, can we really set such time period? leave this question aside for publicity. here goes my opinion- for Test it goes 1) Greatest bowler - Mr. Mutthaiyya Muralidhanran 2) Greatest batsman- Sachin Tendulkar 3) Greatest All round cricketer- Jac Kallis. one day cricket- I really dont know.

I see people are arguing that Kallis has a better batting average than Sachin. Well thats only half true becuase at the End of his 166th test (same no. played by Kallis) Sachin's batting average was 55.56 which is higher than what Kallis has managed. Sachin also had 200 International wickets to go along with 100 international centuries. Unlike Kallis Sachin has also managed to be the Leading scorer in 2 world Cups and leading Indian scorer in a 3rd World Cup which India won. Sachin always played in a team with the weakest bowling and therefore faced the best bowlers of his generation unlike Kallis who never had to face Donald, Pollock and Steyn. Battingwise Sachin holds another Unique record which nobody realises, He is the only player, ever, to play in more than 6 Countries and manage a batting average of more than 40 in all of them.

Sachin has stopped playing cricket by his 99 th century. he was forced to play after that. Kallis should be called as the best cricketer...

Athar Ali Khan ? you better be kidding me, i know about cricket more than him and i played more matches than him for my school, what a joke

Warne instead of Murali??? totally biased...

The way the award is defined should have only one winner - Sachin! First, among the 3, he has inspired the greatest of masses & more generations being a perfect role model on & off the field. Second, he had the best competence across the formats for the longest, & excelled against the best of attacks. Third, he is the one who sustained the excellence through the period under consideration. Warne's was 95-05, Kallis was last 10-12 yrs, but Sachin through the last 20. Fourth, he matched favorably and even bested the best of last 20 years - Border, Azhar thru Lara, Waugh, Inzy to Dravid, Kallis, Ponting to Sehwag, KP etc Fifth, he had a great record against all & everywhere in both formats. Warne didn't against the best players of spin, or Kallis against the best team of his generation Lastly, he arguably changed the face of the game by sparking the interest of the biggest market for cricket & commercializing it Hands down the Cricketer of the last 25-50 Yrs-WG, Bradman & Tendulkar!

Considering the great amount of contribution made by sachin Tendulkar in the world of cricket, he should be bestowed with the award.

Well for me there is not competition when it comes to cricket of the generation, has to be Sachi Paji. I'm not telling this as an Indian, paji has made a greatest impact on the game than any other cricketer. Kids in N'zland , america named after Sachin that tells the story.

Actually, it has to be THE CRICKETER OF THE GAME, and the nominees should be Tendulkar, Bradman, Viv Richards.

Bradman's has to Greatest as far as numbers are concern, but there is a question of quality in opposition, no tech., to work him out , very few teams played against him, not challenged to play the game day in and day out to chk his fittness. At the same time he had very little answer to body line attack.

As far as Richards he made a greater impact to the bowlers and gave a new dimension to the game.

after all said and done it has to Sachi paji should win the race with couple of % higher than Richards.

I would rather ask to change the award to "CricketerS of the generation" and give it to all 3 who made to the final list!!

It shd depend on what u mean by greatest cricketer.

If greatest cricketer refers to all-round abilities, then Kallis shd walk away with the award, no questions asked. It shd go to Tendulkar, if one refers to the greatest icon or most inspirational figure of his generation - note, I am not even saying the best batsman, that he would be too, I am referring to the one who had the biggest "brand equity" in a manner of speaking ... Warne - am surprised he is even nominated here. A true icon or a genuine hero would not have the number of controversies that he did. Period.

A cricketer could be assessed in two ways. Purely on field performance wise or performance + his contribution to the game. When you say his contribution to the game, how the player has conducted himself as a role model for a generation, how he has faced on and off field obstacles, what he has done to the advancement of the game etc. should be taken account of. In whichever way you look at it Murali is head and shoulders above Warn. He's statistically superior, single handedly won matches for his country time and time again, faced career ending obstacles time and time again and overcame all and most importantly, remained a perfect gentleman through it all. I seriously doubt the competence of the people involved in this selection.

Where are Ponting and Muralitharan?

Sachin should get this award,not because he was the best cricketer of this generation,but he was an apt role model for youngsters and he has been a perfect ambassador of the game.

i saw few comments on Warne and Murali. Murali took more wickets and he was one oad only the strike bowler of the team also Murali bowled too many overs when we compare with Warne where as Warne was in the top team along with McGrath, Gilaspe and so many ohter strike bowlers. Compare number of overs bowled by Warne and Murali. Both are great bowlers. in a way i beleive Warne has some edge.

WHAT ABOUT ' WASIM AKRAM" speacially a bowler, who could bowl at 140KM plus, could swing both ways with the new ball, master of reverse swing, Yorker king, round the wicket or over the wicket , MATCH winner, Impact fast bowler, and a bowler who could easily beat a batsman who has scored a 100, and top it all, bowled in subcontinent conditions!! role model for many bowlers!! WASIM AKRAM!! one of a kind!!!!

Thank heavens it's not a public vote 1.3 billion votes for Tendulkar

Shane Warne was the catalyst for Australia's generation of dominance. The most important team of the last 20 years. There were countless games he won virtually single-handedly when it seemed impossible. Adelaide ashes test is a prime example.

if the award goes to the best batsman of the generation.... No doubt, its SRT..... If its for the spinner... Damn it for Warne..... If the award is to 'Cricketer of the generation' ... it should have to go for an all rounder... Its Kallis is the most deserving one who has the perfection in bowling, batting and fielding and he is one of the best part of RSA through out his career..! Even I m a dying fan of SRT as well warne.... here I go for Kallis..! He deserve it..!

It's got to go to the player who has had the biggest effect on world cricket. Tendulkar? an alltime great player, very exciting to watch especially in the first two thirds of his career coupled with longevity. Kallis? Amazing stats with bat and ball, very easy on the eye with a blade in hand. Or Warne? Who inspired a generation to bowl leg spin? Will we see another Tendulkar? Perhaps we already are in Kohli. Another Kallis? Unlikely to that extent for quite some time. Another Warne? Warne was something else, that no one could ever be. You could sit down and watch numerous stylish batsmen who put up great numbers, Lara, Ponting, Laxman to name just a few but there was only one spin bowler worth watching, Murali was great, but not dazzling. Warne brought something a little extra to the game and for that he would get my vote.

Where is Churchie?? Surely he was a great cricketer?

Please don't compare Sachin , warne , kallis and Murali..Think about teams and situations...more than a decade, Sachin was backbone for team india (before Ganguly captiancy). rest of the batting lineup didn't do well and pressure and expectation from the crowd is too much. After that also sachin performed decently. Austrlia was a successful team across the world. Warne is one fo the main reasons for that success. He took crucial wickets at crucial times also i remember couple of good innings from him. Murali highest wicket taker , he bowlsed 40 overs in a day. His captains beleived him and gave him the ball. Last but not least Kallis..greatest allrounder i have seen in my life. In SA bowling pithces, his average is outstnading also he took significant wickets as a fastbowler.

Bottom line is ..please never comapre legend cricketers..all the 4 are best cricketers and did justice to thier positions in thier teams.

'cricketer of the generation' I don't think it is just a matter of best batters, bowlers or allrounder etc.It's a complete package.The player who inspires the generation most in all aspects. I think Sachin is way ahead of others.

This decision will never be satisfying to all the cricket lovers because every has their own idol and parameters to consider someone best. It has been years, I have been listening the debate about who being the best batsmen among Sachin, Ponting and Lara and the its still on. I am sure this is will never have a conclusion. We should completely to leave the matter on to the jury and be happy with our choices. ;)

Those who think warne is better than Murali, Warne always played with a team of champions in Taylor, waugh brothers, mcgrath, ponting, gilchrist, hayden, lee, langer & Gillespie. Ask any spinner, whether he prefers a low flat wicket or a one with bounce. mualri played many matches in wickets that didnt have bounce. also murali takes 5 wickets per test in conditions like aus/sa/nz/eng. remember he took 16 wickets with 9/65 in 2nd innings at lords, another 8/65 in trent bridge. warnes average against india is whopping 47 n murali has an average of 32. So against the best players of spin bowling murali has fared way better than warne. Also murali took seven 5fors n 2 10 wicket match hauls vs india & warne only 1 in 14 test matches. to be the best, you got to bowl your best against the best. yes i agree warne is mentally tougher than murali, but Murali has taken wickets n performed on every surface on earth against any batting team. warne takes only 4.5 wickets per test & murali takes 6.

Well, hard to debate who the best batsman, bowler and all rounder were. Though Kallis, I mean, 280 wickets at good pace, definitely an all rounder not saying he's not, but I mean, he was an accumulator of wickets, 1 or 2 most matches, and lots of matches over many years. His workload and wicket taking expectancy wasn't much different from that of Shane Watson, bowl 10-15 overs an innings, keep it tight, relieve the real bowlers, he just didn't get injured much in 18 years. As purely a batsman you could argue him over Tendulkar though.

But when it comes to "cricketer", that's a whole other thing. Shane Warne was a freak of a talent, he'd have been a great in any side in any era, but he also played in an era where Australia were head and shoulders above the rest of the competition.

To me, Allan Border and Steve Waugh were the best cricketers I ever saw. Able to get runs in form, out of form, against any attack, any kind of wicket, and inspire teammates to exceed themselves.

it should be to tendulkar. he deserved it the most. i would consider murali ahead of shane warne...he also missed a world cup due to some issues..and his behavior on the field not very impressed... with west indies player samuels

There should be three awards. One for best batsman. Best Bowler. and Best all rounder.

Best Batsman: Sachin Best Bowler: Murali (seriously...how is he getting overshadowed by Warne in this article? He is unmatched in his achievements and he did it in face many hurdles in his career..the main issues Warne had was his misbehavior in his personal life lol) Best all rounder: Kallis

yes a tough selection.all the three have contributed for their respective teams Kallis have never played against SA,who had a formidable bowling attack warne never succeeded against the sub continent batsmen,in the sub continent sachin have amassed tons of runs all over the cricketing world.so i feel and wish it should be Sachin!!!Best of Luck Sachin

what about Ponting ?????????????????????????? Ponting should have been nominated in the Top 10??????? do we have better captain than him ???? and his fourth innings performance ?????? at his preoid his Australia r most domating team..............................

guys pls understand that sachin should be given this award, bcoz for the following reason: 1. for the longevity and better average in odi & test. 2. it is very hard to perform where u found to be the main pillar of team. 3. when all the opponents have their spotlight on him , spending most of the day for dismissal of sachin paves the way for teams win. 4. in world of politics in all fields, he had a successful career 5. most important thing he prolonged his career to get the world cup under his belt and for team. 6. most important thing is he should be given the award bcoz he is the one and only" SACHIN TENDULKAR"

Kallis has greater batting and bowling average than sachin in tests, odi's as well as T20's.Infact, Kallis was a bigger match winner than sachin. Still sachin winning would be a grave disgrace to greatest player of all time.

There were ofcourse many great cricketers, but if you really looking for a period from 1993-2013, Sachin was the best as BATSMEN. 1) Some people saying, "IF Kallis had played enough tests" but who stopped him, he himself. So thats why Sachin was better as he was consistent for more games.

2) Ponting- There is no comparison, Sachin was far better. Look up stats....averages, 100s, 50s......just because some people think Ponting is better is useless. Data speaks.

Biggest point is the consistency of Sachin.

Ponting wouldn't be considered above Sachin because sachin also has over 200 wickets in all forms of international cricket and better batting record than the former. Moreover, Sachin's on field discipline was always more inspirational than Ponting's

I think it should be kallis may be he is an all rounder but he scored almost like a best batsman records suggest that and his bowling performance is more than average but where as sachin is just far ahead then other best batsman same as warne but no all rounder has achieved half as of kallis.

Rahul Dravid should have been included in the list. If kallis is all rounder with batting and bowling, Dravid is an all rounder with ODI and Test 10,000 runs, Max Catches record, role as Wicket Keeper!

Warnie is way better than Murali for generally a lot of reasons, but specifically because, he was a leg spinner - which meant that most of his deliveries were bowled outside the leg stump, which negates the chances of LBW, however plumb! This leg stump rule cost Warnie atleast 200 wickets if not more. Another reason was that his balls spun , in some situations, way more than normal spinning deliveries which also used to play on the umpire's mind regarding LBW (recall Coertzen in the case of Warne v/s Strauss). Warnie was a magician, and a rediscover , while murali needed the assistance of the pitch.

There is one reason why Australia dominated all comers all those years and broke the West Indies winning streak record: Shane Keith Warne. If a bowler bowls the ball of the century, then it stands to reason he's got to be the cricketer of that decade, surely. India didn't win too many series away from India with Tendulkar, did they? Australia did, and they have Warne to thank for it. Legspin is the hardest thing to do as a cricketer and he was the master at it. I'd have Gilchrist as runner up. He was the reason why Warne had enough time to bowl them out.

@ jain84 : Then what about Sachin ? He hails from India where the best batting pitches are. Flat tracks. lol. Think twice than you comment rather than focusing on just a single point. Murali hails from a country which is nothing but a tiny island with a very small population. We all know how the cricket world ignore the great talent this country possesses. We have always being under rated over the years but still we are the No 1 team to have played most number of WC Finals( equal with Australia) . We were never give full test tours by some of those so called great test nations. That's not our fault. It's your fault. Not ours. As a small nation we are very proud of what we have achieved specially when we were always ignored in the big stage. We don't care about these one sided awards. No wonder anyway.

My thinking my seems different but I want to say to ESPN Cricinfo guys that the comparison they are making is not correct. In these three, one is Bowler, one is Batsman and one is All Rounder. These three roles are the basics of cricket and you can compare these three with another. Even ICC have three different rankings for each of them - Bowler, Batsman and Allrounder. I also agree with many other fans who wants few more names should be there in the list. So there should be atleast 3 options for each department - Bowler, Batsman and Allrounder. But as this is already fixed and its going to happen tomorrow itself then my choice will KALLIS. The thing is you need to see the impact on a team if that player is absent from the line up then you will always see that when an allrounder is dropped a team actually lost two players - A Batsman and A Bowler as he can contribute in both the departments of the game. So my choice is "JACQUES KALLIS".

why forget legend most wicket holder in test and one day Muralitharan.

I dont know why people are not accepting the fact that Tendulkar was a pure genius in cricketing arena of our generation. kallis was the next best nomination, but Warne is a good leggie but definitely as best spin bowler Muralitharan should be a favorite choice. We have to agree, to the fact warne was well grown from a dominant team around him so as Kallis. But on the other hand Sachin was the team for india in 90s and early 2000s.If sachin plays india wins that was the situation back in these periods. Indian team is so dominant today partly because of him. pakistan pace bowlers always should be among the best fast bowlers.

the fact that they are looking for the most prolific cricketer means that Kallis is the best choice. he is about 1500 runs short of tendulkar's 15000 test runs and what he brings to the fielding component is his 200 test wickets and his 200 test catches at slip. he has led the rise of the SA team to world dominance and has been a pillar of strength for players of all ages in the SA squad. Kallis is a combined package of Rahul Dravid's 13000 test runs and Zaheer Khans 200 test wickets and surpasses Graeme Smith catches at slip. Vote King Kallis

Now I know why Adam Gilchrist wasn't suggested, there is only one wicket keeper on the 50 strong panel. Shame ESPN

its surprising that there are no pace bowlers on the list..warne is the best spinner of all time..but he cant be the best bowler..best pacer category should have been included..mcgrath, waqar,wasim,donald,pollock.all are great pacers the game has ever seen.

According to your theory, as Murali bowled most in the sub continent then Vass will be the greatest fast bowler. Poor selection, Warne before Murali....!!

Adam Gilchrist is the outright Cricketer of that period. How can ESPN Cricinfo not consider his name?

How to hell you can miss Wasim Akram

Well, it's not surprising to see Sachin so far ahead on the poll here - sheer weight of numbers will get him through any time! I guess this is why in these sorts of things the decisions is made by a jury of experts rather than by popular vote. A fine cross section the jury contains, as well, of current and past players, as well as journalists, commentators, and keen observers of the game. Still, a little surprised to see Murali didn't make the final cut, but then these sorts of things will never please all-comers.

What about Ponting and Steve Waugh?. Atleast Ponting should have been nominated in the Top 5?. He is a much better batsman than Sachin (No offence to Sachin Fans) and he has a wonderful record in scoring runs during the 4th innings chase. MY choice would be PONTING, KALLIS, BRIAN LARA and SACHIN. But since the Jury list consists of Indians in Majority SACHIN will win ofcourse.

It should be Kallis, this world would not produce a genuine all rounder like Kallis again. I bet if Kallis would have played as many test matches as Tendulkar, he would have crossed Tendulkar's 51 Centuries mark. Again, this is my opinion. nothing against great SRT, he is a lgened.

I think Adam Gilchrist should be apart of the voting. His dynamic battle made teams scared when he came in. Also for someone who had to be focused as a wicketkeeper for more than any other played on the park shows this bloke to be extraordinary. He has my vote.

SACHIN TENDULKAR.... the name says it all, the most prized for the opposition bowlers throughout his 24 year career... Who else can match his down to earth personality despite of being revered as God of cricket?

soooooooooo what happened to murali ? is nt he the most deserved bowler in all three formats.whats going on with the icc?????????/ poor shame on icc

My vote is for Kallis ...!

Those who are saying Murali should be in the list ahead of Warne because his records are better than Warne, I want to tell those guys two things : 1) Warne is from Australia where pitch doesn't suit much to spin as compared to Sri Lankan's pitches. Just check, how much Murali has played in subcontinent than Warne and you will get to know who is better. 2) Leg spin is more difficult to control and bowl than off spin.

So, considering above two, I put Warne ahead of Murali.

It's like comparing apples and oranges. As an Australian I would choose Warne obviously, but I'm sure Indians would choose Tendulkar and Saffas would go with Kallis. Many more could be added to the list as well- Murali, Lara.....

They have selected only one batsman, otherwise Ponting and Lara might have been listed. Warne, Murali, Wasim Akram all great bowlers in this (1993 - 2013) era. Warne might have won the race based on the fact that during his time Australia have had several very good fast bowlers like McGrath, Gillespie, Brett Lee and so on and he still played a major role whereas Murali was the lone fighter and had to bowl more than 35% of the total overs in every innings. I still feel Wasim Akram is one of the Greatest and should have been listed. Ofcourse, no question on Kallis. Whoever wins is immaterial since all three were very good in whatever they did.

I can't imagine how Warne is considered as the best bowler of the generation. What about Murali, McGrath, Ambrose, Wasim, Donald... the list goes on. Whilst Tendulkar is certainly the most consistent batsman of our generation, I have my doubts as to whether he is the best. There certainly is a case to include the likes of Lara to this list.

Should be Warne !! But these are more of popular choices !! So obviously they will give it to.. you know who..

Yes, even I feel Wasim Akram and Murali missed out. However, Murali's action has always been questioned by the so called 'experts' even though I personally think its fine. So that could have gone against him. Akram was linked to betting, and other activities which could have ruled him out as well. Shane Warne ain't no saint, but I reckon leg spin is deemed sexier than any other bowling type, hence he's nominated. Kallis and Warne are greats, but they were in a team full of stars or at least 10 players more skilled than their Indian counterparts barring Tendulkar. Hence, Tendulkar it shall be.

Tough to select 1 among these 3. All have done well for their team. why murali is not over warne.?? and what basis the 50 member is selected ada jury for this event. coz current players are there like sanga, bell and mahela..

Tendulkar, of course, because he is an Indian.

It will go to Tendulkar on fan fare despite Tendulkar playing in very formidable batting line ups. Kallis from 1998-2008 was the only legitimate batsmen (apart from smith) that carried a team of individuals like Amla and De Villiers until they were able to take over. Kallis's effect on a team is substantial as seen in a series past, his solidity and bowling flexibillity are things impossible to replace, Kholi or Pujara can replace Tendulkar's vacancy.

There is no alternative batting all rounder to replace Kallis.

I don't understand how the highest wicket taker in international cricket is not qualified as the most successful bowler. I wonder on what basis they chose Warne over Murali, Whatever the measurements were, I am sure those can't be proven by logic exists in this world.

The value of a cricketer can be measured by the impact he's had on his team and the world of cricket as a whole.

The rise of Australia as the strongest team in the world from 1995 to 2007 matched Warne's ascendancy. Shane Warne has contributed enormously to Australia's dominance - 7 Ashes Series wins (with only 1 loss), 1999 World Cup win, first bowler to 700 Test wickets, not to mention helping to knock the West Indies off their perch in 1995.

Warne contributed to Australia's 5-0 rout of England in the 2006-07 Ashes, the first time it's happened in 86 years.

if tendulkar had held on for the personal milestone , why would he retire with a 49 odi centuries? He did even have a farewell odi match....yes he had a farewell test match.....but he could have well retired with a 50 odi en test fifties with a total tally of over hundred 100 centuries. out of the 49 odi centuries 33 of them have led india to victory, how on earth is that just playing for personal milestone??? and at the end isnt what he scores added to the total team tally...en its not that he was too slow in scoring either ..he had a decent strike rate of 86.

for me murli and wasim deserve nomination first one as the most prolific bowler of all time and second for being the greatest ever left arm bowler and also being the one who reserched and applied so much as a fast bowler.

@Zahidsaltin - So you mean to say Sachin will just get votes from those 11 members. what a joke. He's going to get votes from Pakistan, Srilanka, south Africa and so on.

Sachin..Sachin... No doubt about that.. Kalllis is close but the service what Sachin has given is unparallel.. He is one of the biggest contribution to cricket crazy nation of India and the revenues that the BCCI is minting along with the ICC is because of sachin. Both Sachin and Kallis are my favourites but will go with Sachin.. Shane warne is not even close to these two. One should also look for on and off field track records while judging the cricketer of the generation as they are inspiration for the next generation cricketers.

Whr is RTP?

SRT all the way! Mind blowing fluency, carried the sport through the 90s, was one of the most down-to-earth cricketers, earned respect of people wherever he went. My vote for Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

Who deserves to be voted cricketer of the generation (1993-2013)? Muttiah Muralitharan(Highest wickets taker in the world ) ,period

greatest bowler has to be murli, more no. of wickets and better averages than warne in both formats, wasim could have been added as he widely considered by most great batsman to be the toughest bowler they faced. kallis deserves the nomination.

Kallis, no one else comes close. But this page is dominated by Indian, so they won't vote with their head, but their hearts.

Why they forgot Muralitharan?

Undoubtedly it should be Tendulkar, The man who played brilliantly under the pressure of a billion fans unlike Kallis/Warne who did not even had 20% of the pressure what GOD had :)

There is only one GOD of the cricket, is my friend SACHIN TENDULKAR. vERY POLITE, GENTLEMAN of the cricket. His skill, talent, passion and love for game speaks and represent true human being. WE ALL ARE PROUD OF YOU SACHIN.God Bless

I am sad to see no Wasim Akram in there. I did not think we would win but I did want to see him be nominated. For me Brian Lara is the best batsman I have ever seen play but out of the three that have been short listed it has to be Tendulkar

They don't have Murali, what a joke...

why not WASEEM AKRAM IN THE LOST ???

l dont think here after any award will go for minnow cricketing nation.surely all will go to india,australia,england.otherwise how can warne nominated over murali.sri lanka was not a great cricketing nation about 20 yrs back.but murali completely changed that.he completely turned a small nation into a huge level.then after SL never turned back. but auatralia was already a great team when warne came into side, so as india. also murali with all these troubles took 92 more wickets than warne. but anything ultimately doesnt matter award will go to tendulkar.grear or not award will finally go to india.thats the nature of this generation.

Warne for Sheer Brilliance - Tendulkar & Kallis for Doggedness

What do you expect when there are 11 indians among the pannel of 50. Where as only 4 south African, 4 Pakistanies, 4 sirilankans and so on. BIG3 goes all the way. Murali your stats speak for itself.

Sachin will win it due to the size of the indian market and the corruption of the BCCI, nothing to do with who is the best which clearly is Kallis.

Jac Kallis is undoubtedly THE CRICKETER OF THE GENERATION. Going by records as well as class & value to the team, he deserves it better than the other 2.

They'll give it to Tendulkar. But it should be Warne.

No boubt at all tendulkar..

Seems a shame that only one can win, likely to be Tendulkar, for doing it over four decades. As far as I'm concerned tho, that top five is unsplittable as absolute legends of the game. The next five? Gilchrist, Ponting, McGrath, Dravid and S.Waugh. Australia over represented due to its dominance for most of the period.

Should be Sachin as he is represented the sub-continent where opportunities and infrastructure for the cricket is probably the worst and regardless of having all limitations he remain the star batsman throughout his career bcaz of his sheer skill, talent, passion and love for game. Whereas Kallis or Warne r from the countries where system is place who generate players but lack in talent. So Sachin is truly deserve this award.

Cricketer is without a doubt Kallis. Batsman is Sachin and Warne is a joke as a contender, A showman and an enigma but he is not is the class by any standard of comparison with the first two.

It will go to tendulkar, although my personal opinion is, kallis deserves it more since it's called Cricketer of the generation.

No Murali wasim ponting at leasr This Guys Sholud Also Need to Include

its very dissopointing that warner got the chance and murali not got it.....he is beter than warner...

Despite being an Indian, I really feel it should go to Kallis. In tests and ODIs, he has close to 25000 runs at ~ 50 average, 62 hundreds, 565 wickets, 329 catches - you are talking about gargantuan numbers in each and every aspect of the game! There never has been and there never will be an all rounder of his class, magnificence and humility. And despite all this, the humility of the man is mind numbing. Now that I think of it, there is no competition for him!

Due respect to Sachin and Warne. No doubt each of them is arguably the best batsman (Maybe after Bradman) and spin bowler the world has ever seen, but if you notice, the award is CRICKETER of the generation, and not BOWLER or BATSMAN of the generation.

Lastly, when you talk about cricketer of the generation, the award needs to go to someone who inspires everyone with their off field behavior as well. Unfortunately, Warne falls well short in that regard, while the other 2 ace this aspect!

So KING KALLIS it is in my opinion!

SACHIN is undoubtedly the Greatest Cricketer of The Century.Forget his centuries and runs. Forget the style With which he scored them.Forget the momentum he gave to Indian team in Tests and especially in ODIs.But can you forget the PLEASURE he gave to the world fans and Indian fans . Something beyond Cricket and even Sports.Truly an ICON.

Based on records alone, Sachin wins hands down. Kallis has a comparable record with the bat and also bowls. Its a tough choice, but i would expect its between them two

Muralitharan is the giant who no bowler come near to. 800 test wickets and and add to that ODI wickets and its all unbelieveable. His 10 fors, his 5 fors,his strike rate, average everything is outstanding which no other bowler, fast or spinner can acheive. It is all biased. Big 3's journalist go along the B3 choice. Even Kallis is there just to raise the credibility. Shame how do they chose, do stats means anything. (by the way I am not a Sirilankan)

I'd give it to Kallis. He is clearly the best at his craft by a long way (the best allrounder). The other top allrounders of the era: Pollock, Cairns, Klusener, Vettori, Watson, Shakib and Flintoff are all a long long way behind Kallis.

In contrast, SRT is not clearly the best batsmen of the generation. There are a number of players just as good (if not better than him) such as Lara, Sangakkara, Kallis again as JUST a batsman, Ponting and Sehwag.

Likewise I'd debate that Warney was the best bowler. I'd rate Murali, McGrath and now Steyn as at least his equal.

In short, Kallis for number one. If I had to choose a runner-up, I'd select Adam Gilchrist, but he obviously didn't make the top 5 so what do I know!

No offence, and please print this as I am not having a go... but is this not a crazy award that ignores the point of cricket? You cannot separate these three... and while Tendulkar would edge them if giving out ONE award or Warne edge the other two).. Tendulkar still played a lot at home too where batters can dominate.... surely the best idea is to go "Bowler / Batsman / All-Rounder of their generation"... then you have answered your own question: You give it to all three of them. Kallis will miss out otherwise I feel... demeaning the critical role of the all-rounder...and then one of Warne / Tendulkar will be rightly disappointed, as cannot say one was better than the other... it is too personal.

How in the world did Warne edge out Murali? Murali is the highest wicket taker in BOTH ODI's AND TESTS. Also, his bowling average and economy trumps Warne in both departments. He also has a better record against every single Test nation except for Pakistan. There are obviously politics involved in this, because statistically Murali is the best bowler in the history of the game by quite a distance. That said, the award should go to Tendulkar. He mastered both formats of the game, something Warne and Kallis did not really do (they were more of Test players). If Murali was in the mix, it would be interesting, but Tendulkar would edge him out simply because of the influence he had on the cricketing world

Sanath Jayasuriya made a huge impact to the game more than any other cricketer in the last 20 years. The players mentioned in the above list never made such a positive impact to the game like he did in their careers. My vote goes to the one who comes close to Sanath's impact on game that is easily Shane Warne, who revived the art of Leg spin bowling.

I am not sure why the cricketer of the decade the first person to receive was included in the list, Ricky Ponting. If nobody can touch Tendulkars record of 100 centuries I am sure no one can touch Ricky Ponting record of 108 test victories. Cricket is a team game and one should see the impact of the cricketer rather than individual records.

100% sure Sachin will win. I am Indian so happy a Indian player will win. However, I have great respect for Kallis. Won't mind if he wins. Being able to bat and bowl, he had much extra pressure on mind and body. Top player.

No doubt - Sachin Tendulkar, when Warne is a finalist for crickete of generation then Sachin is the one who shown stars in daylight to warne.

It should be Warne, but Tendulkar will get it and we all know why.

Interesting final three, a bowler, batter and all rounder. Ultimately cricketer should go to the all rounder. If it was for a single discipline then it might be a little more difficult to call.

Kallis I reckon, but any way you look at it, all of the nominees are fantastic cricketers in their own right.

I am very, very sad to hear that MURALI didn't get place in the final three.he was the best ever spin bowler and he was the one and only bowler to take 800 Test wickets(i'm pretty sure that may never be broken).

Kallis. It HAS to be Kallis. Come on. the man was effectively 2 players in 1 and crucial to South Africa's rise to power. Everything was built around him.

As a batsman alone he could rescue south africa in times of trouble and put them into dominating positions. He has done it time and again. Effectively he has been South Africa's long serving Sachin and Dravid as one cricketer. Although he was no longer a strike bowler in his final 5-6 years as a player, he did his bit and more with crucial wickets to break partnerships. I'd say 577 international wickets puts him on a pedestal. After all, how many cricketers have ever been mentioned in the same breath as Sir Garry ? Surely, even if he didn't have the same visual impact as that legend, he made his mark in his own subtle way. Very low-profile and yet almost as effective and absolutely vital to South Africa in every situation.

He called time when he thought his form was failing and went out with a 100. That's the mark of a champion.

The opening line of this report is wrong. Shane Warne is certainly not the Most Successful Bowler. Still amazes me how Murali did not make the cut. having had to deal with all the controversies and still reach 800 wickets. 92 wickets more than Warne

no wonder it will be sachin as it will be presented by crickinfo ..

u can another Tendulkar or even a Warne in next 10 years. ,,,, but I dare you to find a kallis .... the best allrounder to play the game

Shane Warne hands down. He mastered the hardest art in the game and the aura and theatre he created was second to none. With respect to Tendulkar.

Kallis is a great cricketer, but never a standout performer that you need to be in order to win such an accolade such as this. He played many great innings, but too many of them were supporting acts rather than "Look at me, i will win this game for my team."

The paragraph about Tendulkar should also add how his career sputtered towards the end, and how he clung on to the team for his personal milestone. A fair comparison would be how each of these legends ended their careers.

Sachin Tendulkar - Cricketer of the Century.

without doubt the award goes to Sir.Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar..He is worth more than this..Great ambassador of the game!!!