Mumbai (Agencies): Breaking News! While all senior cricketers showered praise on master blaster Sachin Tendulkar after his double hundred in ODI and hailed him as the best batsman in the world, former West Indies cricket star, Sir Garfield Sobers said that he considers Sunil Gavaskar as the greatest among all.

"It is very difficult to compare players across different eras. But Sunil Gavaskar is the greatest batsman because he scored heavily in an era of uncovered pitches and the backfoot no-ball rule. And, he scored more against the deadly West Indies bowling attack without wearing a helmet or having protections", said Sobers.

"He came good against the most fierce bowling attacks and he scored heavily against the West Indies in West Indies, against England in England and against Australia in Australia", added Sobers.

"I do not want to belittle the achievements of Tendulkar, Viv Richards and Brian Lara. Tendulkar has been the best batsman of his era without doubt. He has achieved everything that a batsman is expected to. But Sunil Gavaskar is the greatest, as he proved himself in difficult conditions”, he said.

Sir Gary Sobers will felicitate the 1971 Cricket Team that toured West Indies, in a function to be held at Nehru Centre on Thursday. Widows of five deceased members of that team will also be felicitated.