BD NarayankarBengaluru, July 18 -- Cricket has always had specialists. A batsman who could bat all day. A fast bowler who could intimidate opponents. A spinner who could suffocate a run chase. A fielder whose hands seemed to have magnets.
Sir Garfield Sobers made such distinctions unnecessary.
He belonged to a time when cricket was still discovering the full range of its possibilities. He showed that one man could score centuries with effortless elegance, bowl left-arm pace before lunch, turn to orthodox spin after tea, produce wrist spin when the situation demanded it, and then complete the day with catches that seemed beyond human reach.
That is why the debate over the greatest allrounder has never really been a debate. It usually ende...