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 legendSir 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's 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.