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MELBOURNE: An Economics researcher claims to have found an answer to one of the biggest debates in international cricket by picking Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar as the greatest Test batsman ever over late Australian legend Sir Donald Bradman.

"Griffith University researcher Dr Nicholas Rohde has used economic theory to compare batsmen from different eras, and says India’s Little Master, who will pad up against the Aussies at the MCG on Boxing Day, is history’s premier willow wielder," reported ’The Australian’.

The 38-year-old Tendulkar has a world-record 15,183 runs from 184 Tests at an average of 56.02 since making his debut in 1989.

Bradman, on the other hand, played 52 Tests from 1928 to 1948, scoring 6996 runs at an astonishing average of 99.94. He died in 2001 aged 92.

Dr Rohde said a theoretical analysis puts Tendulkar above Bradman.

"The rankings are designed to allow for meaningful comparisons of players with careers of different lengths," Dr Rohde said.

"It’s an emotional issue and there will always be debate between followers of Test cricket about the relative career performances of various batsmen," he added.

The rankings by the researcher have been created according to a player’s career aggregate runs, minus the total number of runs that an average player of that era would accumulate over the same number of innings.

Allan Border (seven) and Steve Waugh (nine) are the other Australian batsmen in the top 10. Rahul Dravid (fourth) and Sunil Gavaskar (eighth) are the other Indians in the list.

Dr Rohde said it was possible that Tendulkar and Bradman could swap their places many times before the Indian retires as a dip in form would affect his standing.

Lalu at his witty best in Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI: Lalu Prasad was at his irrepressible best in the Lok Sabha today as he used his rustic wit and humour to send a message against rushing through the Lokpal Bill, taking potshots at Anna Hazare and his team.

"Don’t put the noose around your neck," the RJD chief appealed to the packed House, saying "Parliament cannot be run from the footpath. We are the lawmakers."

Prasad’s poser was "how many friends of (Suresh) Kalmadi you want to make? If an ex-MP comes, he doesn’t get place even in the bathroom," evoking laughter. He said the Lokpal would open a Pandora’s box for the lawmakers themselves, both past and present.

In the midst of his hilarious remarks, he said "I was born in 1948. Mere aane se pahle hi Angrez bhag gaye (even before I arrived, British fled)". This sent the House into peals of laughter.

Repeatedly saying that he was not against the Bill as was being projected, Prasad went out of the way to woo the media saying that it should be exempted from the ambit of the Lokpal, maintaining it was doing "nothing wrong but giving publicity" to politicians.

In this context, he said Union minister Kapil Sibal’s photographs were being well-published in the newspapers. Then he turned to another minister Pawan Kumar Bansal saying he has a file tucked in his armpit and feels like he is running the government.