Who would be the best replacement for Gary Sobers in an all-time XI?

[Harsh Thakor]

Best choice to replace Sobers at no 6 in all-time XI in order of merit

1.Jacques Kallis
2.Keith Miller
3.Ian Botham
4.Imran Khan
5.Mike Procter
6.Kapil Dev/Vinno Mankad


I

To replace Sobers I voted for Kallis as though he lacked x factor he was phenomenally consistent.Miller championed cause with bat better than even Imran or Hadlee and surpassed Botham for consistency.Botham was the best in his peak who could change the fortunes of a game more than anyone with his explosive burst.However he was not at his best against the premier team of his day,West Indies and relatively lost form midway through his career.Kapil Dev was a Herculaes who could create the impact of a dynamite in full flow but lost out because of lack of consistency as a batsmen.The Botham of 1977-82 would have been my 1st choice.I feel if he had a full career Procter would again have been the ultimate choice.

I feel a fast bowling all-rounder is most appropriate to join Sobers and a great batting all-rounder is more suitable to replacing him.Preferred Botham or Miller as a replacement as they were more effective with the bat in terms of bowling domination.

Edited March 18, 2020 by Harsh Thakor

[Khota]

It is so difficult to compare players of different era so I will take a pass on this one. Just take Kapil for e.eg., most of Indian current pace bowlers are better than him.

[mancalledsting]

Dre Russ- his form in IPL 13.729 was so off the heezy it made me wheezy

[NameGoesHere]

Kallis.

[Ankit_sharma03]

Post sobers if any all rounder is picked kallis wud be that infact many might take kallis ahead of sobers as well . 

[Gollum]

Hardik Pandya

[Norman]

 

[Sandeep99]

[zen]

Hard to replace Sobers, who is also arguably the best batsman after Bradman. Averaged 60+  from 1958-1973 iirc

 

From the list, maybe Kallis can be one but he cannot win a test match like Sobers, who can play attacking cricket too, would .... Sobers can also bat with the tail .... or may be Stokes who can good under pressure .... or Botham at his peak who hit 14 test 100s

 

Since Sobers can be like a mix of Steve Waugh (gritty cricket, pressure player) and Gilchrist (attacking cricket), maybe Waugh (grittiness) or Richards (attacking cricket), who have the quality to make an impact with the bat (in their way), are good under pressure, and can also bowl if required (Sobers is the better bowler but would be the 5th bowler in an AT11)

 

 

Edited March 18, 2020 by zen

[Norman]

57 minutes ago, zen said:

From the list, maybe Kallis can be one but he cannot win a test match like Sobers, who can play attacking cricket too, would .... Sobers can also bat with the tail .... or may be Stokes who can good under pressure .... or Botham at his peak who hit 14 test 100s

I thought you'd say kar ke aaya.

[I6MTW]

Sobers can also bowl spin along with pace. Add that too his bowling skills and batting abilities , he is irreplaceable.

[zen]

Sobers, who was towards the end of his career, vs. Lillee

 

 

[gazza]

Procter bowled some off spin, but what made Gary special was his ability to bowl both left arm types of spin, plus pace and be one of the greatest and best attacking batsmen of all time. No one else can be a like for like replacement but if you are wanting similar batting/bowling numbers then kallis, but the versatility will be lacking compared to sobers.