Listen to this article:

To say Garry Sobers was an all-rounder is like saying Michelangelo painted or Mozart played the piano. The analogy is not accidental, although the word ‘genius’ is often used in sport indiscriminately. Sobers was an absolute, beyond comparison in a sport where he was so far above everybody else that he would have been first choice (ahead of Don Bradman) for the Earth in an inter-planetary match against Mars or Jupiter. His passing at the age of 89 has taken from us the finest cricketer ever to have drawn breath.

When he turned 80, Bishan Bedi, a great friend, wished him and asked how he felt. Sobers replied simply, “It is better than the alternative.”

It is one of the game’s quirks that few writers have captured Sobers in his entirety, not even fellow West Indian C.L.R. James who knew him well. He was large, he contained multitudes. Those fortunate enough to share the pitch with him lacked the vocabulary, those who wrote from a distance lacked the intimacy.

Over the years Sobers was revealed to me by those who played with him. He was one of the greatest left arm fast bowlers, a remarkable orthodox left arm spinner as well as a bowler of back-of-the-hand googlies. For younger Indian fans, it is as if Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav were combined in one man. He was........

© The Wire