The answer, at least according to netizens who participated in a recent Sydney Morning Herald poll, is a resounding yes - by a whopping margin of 67% to 33%.
Even as we were digesting this result, along came an interview by Usain Bolt. The world's fastest man admitted to being a huge Sachin fan. He also said that given a chance, he'd like to ask Sachin "how he has managed to work so hard to stay at the top for so long and what advice he'd give other sportsmen".
Clearly then, Sachin is idolized not just by millions of cricket lovers, but also champions of other sports. It's easy to understand why: After all, he has sustained excellence at the highest competitive level for a scarcely believable 21 years, while cheerfully bearing the crushing burden of knowing that a billion hopes rest on his shoulders every time he bats.
Not many sporting legends of any event or era can make such a claim. So, is Sachin not just the greatest cricketer but, in fact, the greatest sportsperson of all time? It's a question that's bound to stir a heated debate. So, we decided to throw it open to our readers as well. We prepared a shortlist of 12 of the greatest sportspersons ever. Sachin, naturally, figures in it. But choosing the other 11 proved immensely challenging.
