Brett Lee names Jacques Kallis, not Sachin Tendulkar, as cricket's greatest on BeerBiceps podcast

Former Australia fast bowler Brett Lee said on the BeerBiceps podcast on 2026-08-09 that he considers Jacques Kallis the greatest cricketer of all time, placing Kallis ahead of Sachin Tendulkar when batting, bowling and fielding are all taken into account. Lee qualified the distinction by calling Tendulkar the best batsman he has seen while arguing Kallis is the most complete player.

Tendulkar is described in the remarks as the game's finest pure batsman and remains the only player to have scored 100 international centuries. Kallis is presented as a legendary South African all-rounder who contributed with bat, ball and in the slips. Lee set out a two-part debate between the best batsman and the best cricketer and explained his separation of those labels in his podcast appearance.

Lee stated his position directly: "I've always said that I think that the best batsman to ever play the game is Sachin Tendulkar. But the best cricketer is Jacques Kallis. He's got the best numbers in the world. If you look at his stats, the stats don't lie. He's incredible." He used Kallis' statistical record to support his view.

The South African's figures cited in the discussion are unique: Kallis remains the only cricketer to have scored more than 10,000 runs and taken over 250 wickets in both Test and ODI cricket. His Test totals mentioned were 13,289 runs and 292 wickets from 166 matches; his ODI totals were 11,579 runs and 273 wickets from 328 matches, and he also took 200 catches in Tests.

Lee noted a personal element to his assessment stemming from shared time at the Kolkata Knight Riders. The two were teammates in the franchise dressing room across three IPL seasons from 2011 to 2013; Kallis is recorded as having played 56 matches for KKR between 2011 and 2014 while Lee featured for the franchise from 2011 to 2013.

Recalling Kallis' preparation and temperament, Lee said: "But to be alongside as a teammate and to watch him prepare for a game, his heart rate was about 30 beats a minute before going out to bat as he was chilled out. So relaxed," and added: "The way I'd watch him get changed, he'd put his gear on, his batting gear, and he'd put his left sock on first, his other sock would go in his mouth. Same thing every single day," Lee recalled.

Tendulkar's career numbers were also cited to frame the debate: he finished with 34,357 international runs and 100 centuries across 664 matches, including 15,921 Test runs and 18,426 ODI runs. Lee's remarks emphasize a distinction between batting excellence and all-round contribution rather than seeking to diminish Tendulkar's batting record.

Lee attributed his view to both Kallis' statistical record and his own observations as a teammate, combining those elements to justify distinguishing the game's best batsman from the game's best cricketer.