Discover the legendary talent of the great cricketer Gary Sobers and why his all-round cricketing prowess will make him a dominant force in today’s T20 format. Dive into the timeless talents of a true cricket icon.
The Great cricketer Gary Sobers
A few days ago I thought, who is the greatest Test cricketer among the Test cricketers of the past who are currently among us? After some thought, the name Gary Sobers came to mind. In the history of Test cricket, no cricketer has come with so many goals. Sobers is no match for anyone statistically, but without getting into that fray, let’s measure his greatness by other metrics.
Few other cricketers have been admired as much as Sobers by cricket’s greats. If the greatness of West Indian cricket is to be embodied in one person, it can be the person of Gary Sobers.
I recently read the interesting book Chappelli: Life, Larrikins & Cricket by former Australian captain and renowned cricket commentator Iain Chappelle, which describes an incident of the great Australian all-rounder Keith Miller watching a cricket match with his son. During the match, batting figures appeared on the TV screen. It is obvious who has been able to beat Bradman in this Gorkha Dhanda, so the commentator called him the greatest player in the history of cricket. Keith Miller felt it necessary to correct this statement to his son:
Greatest batsman of all time: Sir Don Bradman
Greatest Cricketer of All Time: Sir Gary Sobers
Interestingly, Bradman himself was very convinced of the greatness of Sobers. Based on his diverse qualities, he was called five in one.
As captain of the World XI in 1972, Sobers scored a brilliant innings of 254 runs against strong Australian bowling, the heyday of Dennis Lillee, while Sobers’ career was coming to an end. Lilly had taken eight wickets in one innings and four wickets in the second innings of the previous match. In the first innings of the Melbourne Test, he guided Sobers to the pavilion for zero. Sobers made up for this failure by making 254 runs (not out) in the second innings.
Bradman described this innings as the best batting performance on Australian soil. What could be a greater compliment to one’s game than that?
These testimonies of the greatness of Sobers have been given by strangers. Now let’s talk about ourselves. In Fire in Babylon, Simon Lister recounts that during the 1963 tour of England, West Indian captain Frank Worrell banned the players from leaving the room after 10 p.m.
Sobers had an exception to this ‘curfew’, which other players were unhappy about. One day these ‘rebels’ went to the captain and said that it was wrong for the sobers to stay out as long as they wanted and to make us go to bed at 10 o’clock. On this, the captain said to Basil Butcher, who was part of the ‘Rebels’, ‘Okay, well, you and the other players show by scoring five wickets, two good catches, and a century at short-leg, then you will also be allowed to play out as long as you want. Walk around.’
Complaining about this, the players did not have any satisfactory answer, so they returned to Benil Maram.
Gary Sobers has many achievements in cricket. His first achievement was great and historic. In a Test match against Pakistan in 1958, he broke Len Hutton’s record of 364, scoring an unbeaten 365 runs. It was his first century in Tests. He was 23 years old at that time. This record remained with him for 36 years. In 1994, Brian Lara broke it by scoring 375 runs.
In the same series in which Sobers set the record, Hanif Muhammad played a great innings of 337 runs. Hanif Muhammad in his book ‘Playing for Pakistan’ has paid tribute to Sobers in wonderful words and called them four in one.
Sobers was a great batsman. Scored 8032 runs at an average of 57.78 and took 235 wickets in 93 Test matches. Was effective as a left-arm spin bowler as well as a medium pacer. He was also an accomplished fielder. Led in 39 Test matches. Scored runs at an average of 58.80 as captain, second only to Don Bradman. In the year 1975, he got the title of Sir.
It will be 50 years since Gary Sobers retired from Test cricket, but his name has not faded from the minds. They keep being mentioned in different contexts. Today T20 is away. If an imaginary World T20 XI based on the players of the past is to be built, Sobers will be included in it. An excellent and aggressive batsman, an excellent bowler, and a perfect fielder, with unparalleled fitness, and unique leadership skills. Such a versatile cricketer will not be found. His presence on the field was a condition, he could entertain the fans in any capacity.
Due to his versatile qualities, Sunil Gavaskar said that he could do everything on the cricket field.
Sixes in T20 is the story of modern times. In 1968, Sobers became the first player to hit all sixes in an over in first-class cricket when he smashed six balls from Malcolm Nash’s over from Glamorgan over the boundary line while playing for Nottinghamshire. was
Cricinfo formed a four-member panel of cricket experts in the year 2020 to form a T20 dream team of past players. For this, Andrew Miller, Shamiya Dasgupta, Ahmar Naqvi, and Raunq Kapoor evaluated the performance of the players from different aspects. There was considerable backlash, but interestingly, the only player who was unanimously chosen was Gary Sobers.
Not only the player, he was also chosen for the captaincy of the team. Just as Nasir Kazmi said ‘Her dur ki ghazal mein Mira shan milga’, in whatever form cricket takes, there will always be a need for a great player like Gary Sobers to add color to it.
