The International Cricket Council host broadcaster Star Sports will celebrate the legends of Test cricket from the 21st century. The event will coincide with the inaugural ICC Test Championship final, to be broadcast LIVE by Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar.
The 50-member elite jury panel comprises legends of the game like Sunil Gavaskar, Ian Bishop, Harbhajan Singh, Shane Watson, Scott Styris, Gautam Gambhir as well members of media will pick the legend from a list of the nominees.
Test cricket has occupied a special place in the hearts of every cricket afficionado. For the past 144 years, the longest format witnessed several success stories highlighting the physicality and mental toughness from players across the 22 yards.
There have been memorable victories and hard-fought fabled battles, but a world champion was never crowned. That debate will be put to rest when the top two nations in Test cricket – India and New Zealand – square off in the #UltimateTest in the ICC World Test Championship Final, to be broadcast LIVE and Exclusive on the Star Sports Network from June 18 to 22 from 2 PM.
To celebrate historic feats in Test cricket, Star Sports, India’s leading sports broadcaster, has strung together a mammoth activity to pick the Greatest Of All Time (G.O.A.T) of the 21st century in Tests from among Batsmen, Bowlers, All-rounders and Captains, states a Star Sports Press release.
The one-of-a-kind initiative brought the entire cricket community together – right from the legends of the game, senior sports journalists around the globe, broadcasters, statisticians, analysts, anchors – the creme de la creme united under one roof.
NOMINEES
The nominees for the categories were carefully selected through a rigid process which included a set criterion for each category.
Men’s Test Batsman: Sachin Tendulkar, Steve Smith, Kumar Sangakkara, Jacques Kallis
Men’s Test Bowler: Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, Dale Steyn, Glenn McGrath
Men’s Test All-rounder: Jacques Kallis, Ben Stokes, Andrew Flintoff, Ravichandran Ashwin
Men’s Test Captain: Steve Waugh, Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, Virat Kohli
JURY
An elite 50-member jury was formed comprising legends of the game like Sunil Gavaskar, Ian Bishop, Harbhajan Singh, Shane Watson, Scott Styris, Gautam Gambhir among others, renowned sports journalists and coaches.
Star Sports have also given fans a chance to be a part of the jury, as fan polls will be conducted between June 15 and 17 on Twitter. The polls for captain and all-rounder will take place on 17th.
Fan Poll for Test Batsman: https://twitter.com/StarSportsIndia/status/1404751482218377221
Fan Poll for Test Bowler: https://twitter.com/StarSportsIndia/status/1404793839542575105
SELECTION PROCEDURE:
To ensure complete transparency, what followed next was a stringent category-wise selection procedure. All stats considered for the nominees are from or after January 1, 2000 only.
GREATEST MEN’S TEST BATSMAN: Criteria: (2 out of the 3 should be met): Minimum 10,000 runs, 50+ average, 25+ 100s
GREATEST MEN’S TEST BOWLER: Mandatory criteria: 250 Wickets. Flexible criteria (2 out of the 3 should be met): Home average < 30, Away average < 30, 15 five-wicket hauls
GREATEST MEN’S TEST ALL-ROUNDER: Criteria: 2500+ Runs, 150+ Wickets, Positive average difference
GREATEST MEN’S TEST CAPTAIN: Criteria: Minimum 10 home and away wins, win or drawn % more than 70
The winners for all the categories will be announced during the lunch time show ‘Cricket Live’ during the ICC WTC Final from June 18-22, 2021 LIVE & Exclusive on the Star Sports Network.
