By Basab Dasgupta
July 17, 2026 was a sad day for me because Sir Garfield Sobers, the great cricket all-rounder from the West Indies and my sports superhero, passed away that day. I saw him play for the first time during the third cricket test at Eden Gardens when the West Indies team visited India in 1958-59.
This was the very first cricket test that my father, who was a member of Cricket Association of Bengal, took me with him to watch. Sobers scored a century to add to a double-century by Rohan Kanhai on the previous day. Unfortunately, India lost the test miserably by an innings and 336 runs.
However, I fell in love with the game of cricket. In those days it was a perfect “gentleman’s game”, played under a pleasantly warm sun on a crisp winter day at a leisurely pace with plenty of breaks for lunch, tea and drinks. Gentleman Sobers was the embodiment of the spirit of the game.
It seemed that he could do everything on the field better than anyone else. In his batting, he displayed all the different ways of sending the ball across the boundary - drives, hooks, cuts, glances, sweeps. He could bowl as a medium-pace bowler or as a spinner. As a spinner, he perfected his deliveries of “Chinaman” (equivalent to a “Googly” from a left-armed bowler).
He was a superb fielder who would typically stand in the crucial “slip” position and was not afraid to throw his body in any acrobatic posture to catch a ball. He had a dominant presence on the field which inspired other players.
My love for cricket evolved in synchronization with my admiration for Sobers. I ended up memorizing all his statistics: number of test matches (93), number of centuries (26), number of test runs (8032), highest test score (365 not out against Pakistan, which stood as a record for 36 years), number of test wickets (235), number of catches (109) and many other facts and figures.
Sobers was there wherever cricket was glorified. He was there during the famous “tie test” in Brisbane between West Indies and Australia. He opened the innings for the West Indies and scored 132 runs - the first time a West Indian opener scored a century in Australia, setting the stage for the dramatic finale.
Sobers started playing for Nottinghamshire in county cricket in the UK and was the first ever player to hit six sixes in one over. Sobers was there receiving knighthood from Queen Elizabeth. Sobers played professionally on three continents.
Sobers was a stylish dresser. I vividly remember his white stiff collar and majestic debonair walking style. He always had a slight smile on his face. I even wrote a poem with adolescent enthusiasm about him when I was in high school. I do not remember the poem except for one line: “I kept on looking at a smile, hidden behind stiff collars on a proud neck as the silhouette of a chiseled body slowly disappeared in the darkness of the pavilion”.
Was Sobers the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) in cricket? Most people consider Donald Bradman to be the GOAT, followed by Sachin Tendulkar. Sobers is often ranked third in this hierarchy. However, both Bradman and Tendulkar were primarily batsmen. Sobers was truly an all-rounder. In my view, he WAS the GOAT.
Instead of a 70ft tall statue of Lionel Messi, I would like to see a statue of Sobers near the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Tendulkar already has a statue at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. Together with statues of Sobers in Kolkata and perhaps Bradman at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium (aka Arun Jaitley stadium) in New Delhi we can permanently pay our respect to the “GOAT Trio” of cricket.
This would be more appropriate because India is a powerhouse in cricket and the whole nation is crazy about cricket. I do not understand the Messi-mania in India because these days India cannot even qualify for the Olympics or World Cup in soccer.
I saw Sobers again during the platinum jubilee celebration of Mohun Bagan club in 1964. I fondly remember the occasion which showcased internationally famous athletes to the local fans. This celebration featured soccer, cricket, hockey and track and field and entertained the fan base in Kolkata for days. Many famous players, including gold medalist Olympians participated in sporting events in all of the above categories.
Sobers played on behalf of an international Commonwealth team against India in an exhibition cricket match during this celebration. He again scored a century at the Eden Gardens. That alone was worth the money I paid for the ticket.
However, this time I wanted to see Sobers in an up-close and personal manner. There was no such thing as a “GOAT India Tour" for Sobers, similar to what was organized for Lionel Messi. My plan was to approach Sobers under the guise of autograph hunting.
One day during this exhibition cricket match, I went to the Great Eastern Hotel with a friend where most of the players were reportedly staying. We immediately realized that just getting into the hotel would be a major challenge!
Neither one of us had ever been inside such a palatial hotel and was not dressed to look like possible guests. The guard at the main entrance in colorful uniform complete with a turban and a cane immediately stopped us at our first effort to just casually walk in; we had no answer for his inquiries about our purpose.
Undeterred, we stood nearby and kept an eye at the entrance. Every time a hotel guest was leaving and boarding a car or a taxi, the guard would follow him/her to the car to get an appropriate tip. This was a momentary window of opportunity for us. Next time, he followed a guest we sneaked in!
We asked a bellboy for Sobers’ room number and had to generously tip him to get that information. We knocked on Sobers’ door. Sobers opened the door. I do not know who he was expecting, but he was clad only in boxer shorts, and the rest of his muscular body was just gleaming.
Although not too thrilled to see us, he was courteous enough to give his autograph by scribbling his name in a hurry but immediately closed the door. I was standing only a foot or so away from Sobers: those few seconds of interaction I experienced without saying a word will forever remain etched in my memory.
There have been other great cricket all-rounders in later decades including Jacques Kallis, Ian Botham and Kapil Dev, but there will never be another Sobers. Rest in peace Garfield.
(California-based Basab Dasgupta has a doctorate in Physics from the University of Wisconsin and has worked with Sony as Vice President of an operating division.)
