Surfers of www.espnstar.com have given their verdict. Sachin Tendulkar is – “The Greatest” ever One Day International batsman.

Sachin polled 53% of the votes in the showdown with Sanath Jayasuriya in the contest, which concluded on Tuesday.

The Indian star and the Sri Lankan hitter beat Aravinda de Silva and Saurav Ganguly respectivley in the semi-finals to set up the final date.

While Tendulkar nipped past Matthew Hayden in the quarter-finals, Ganguly got the better of legendary West Indian Viv Richards. de Silva accounted for Indian batting sensation Virender Sehwag while Jayasuriya saw off former Pakistan opener Saeed Anwar.

16 batsmen were shorlisted to start with. They were paired against each other in a knockout draw. The one with the higher percentage of votes advanced to the next round. The process was repeated for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final.