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Garry Sobers v Imran Khan,Test Cricket:Poll

Who was the better Test cricketer: Imran or Sobers?


  • Total voters
    168

Teja.

Global Moderator
I reckon BhupinderSingh probably mentioned Imran in about 90% of his posts.

Anyway, it's definitely Imran for me. I think he's the greatest Test cricket in the history of the game, so it was a bit of a no-brainer for me.
Vote then.
 

cnerd123

likes this
Sobers. Epic batsman - you could make a strong case for him as the 3rd best batsman ever, behind Bradman and Sachin (Or 4th best ever if you put Richards 3rd). Not as much an Epic bowler, but someone able to bowl left arm pace, swing, wrist spin AND offspin to a reasonable enough level at Test cricket deserves a lot of respect. And then also a brilliant fielder.

More of a complete package IMO. He was the real deal.

Imran at his peak does make a very strong case, (legendary fast bowler, more than useful batsman, great captain), but over the span of their careers, I have to go for Sobers.
 

ankitj

Hall of Fame Member
Why ask such tough questions :huh:

I admire them no ends and in my book they are 2nd and 3rd greatest cricketers of all time.
 

Flem274*

123/5
Imran. He is in my top five bowlers of all time, and a reasonable batsman to boot (his record for his era is more than reasonable). Sobers was an awesome batsman, but an average at best bowler.

Very close though, very close.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
I generally go Sobers and Imran as the best allround cricketers, in that order.


Gotta say, I really do think being on CW has helped me appreciate and understand both these men's greatness... I knew them as names with reputations before but the anecdotes and stuff (not the stats, we are ALWAYS aware of the stats, even in the pre-cricinfo days :laugh: ) and just reminsces from the games which some posters here have seen live has helped me appreciate these guys that much more..


Sobers batting slightly > Imran's bowling
Sobers bowling = Imran's batting
Sobers fielding > Imran's captaincy
 

hang on

State Vice-Captain
sobers, i think, is unparalleled in his genius, if not hisnecessarily his records.

i would have kallis next. only marginally ahead of imran and miller, who, lest we forget, also lost a lot of his best years to rather an inconvenient and convulsive global nuisance.

in terms of peforming incredible all round feats with both bat and ball in the same match, i would actually have botham ahead of all the others.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
Agree with the first two. But how did you even make the third comparison? True case of apples and oranges :p
mainly on reputation, and accounts from guys who have seen them, esp. on CW..


Plus, it is just an opinion.. I am not gonna shove it down as a fact.. :)
 

MrIncredible

U19 Cricketer
Sobers. Most complete cricketer bar none. Never will forget the legend of HIS series in England. I

Think it was 1963 where vs a very good English attack he scored 700 runs took 20 wickets at 27 odd

and held 10 catches (I think). Probably, overused as a bowler I think, and yes maybe is bowling record

is a little mediocre but then averaging 37 with the bat isnt stellar either. The gap between these two

men is not huge but in terms of overall cricketing skills (batting, fielding, bowling) Sobers edges it.

PS Captaincy is not (IMO) a cricketing skill, otherwise Viv >> Lara for example.
 

Ikki

Hall of Fame Member
Sobers may be complete - in terms of being capable in multiple facets of the game - but overall he is overrated IMO. Not that he isn't great, but the widespread esteem he is held in doesn't make much sense to me. Imran is the better all-rounder, was a wonderful leader and that settles it for me. Better looking too. :p
 

JBH001

International Regular
I'm not sure about all this recent Imran love, tbh. Sobers for me, everytime. It's really not even very close.
 
Last edited:

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
I'm not sure about all this recent Imran love, tbh. Sobers for me, everytime. It's really not even very close.
AWTA.

IMO, for Imran to be rated as an all rounder he needed to have actually performed all round feats.
 

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