Legendary West Indies cricketer Garry Sobers passes away at 89

2 min readUpdated: Jul 17, 2026 09:19 PM IST

Gary Sobers ringing the bell at Lord's. (FILE photo)

Former West Indies cricketer Sir Garfield Sobers died on Friday at the age of 89 at home in Barbados. Sobers is widely regarded as cricket’s greatest all-rounder.

“A great innings has come to an end. In our hearts, now and forever, Sir Garfield Sobers,” Cricket West Indies said in a post on X.

A left-handed batsman who could bowl in the vastly different styles of fast-medium, orthodox spin and wrist spin, as well as a brilliant fielder, Barbados-born Sobers represented the West Indies in 93 Tests from 1954 to 1974.

Without much debate, Sobers is considered the greatest all-rounder that the sport has seen. He scored over 8,000 Test runs and picked up 235 wickets on the international arena, and overall, more than 28,000 runs and a staggering 1043 wickets.

“The greatest all-round cricketer the world has seen”. He wrote: “Sobers was a brilliant batsman, splendid fielder, particularly close to the wicket, and a bowler of extraordinary skill, whether bowling with the new ball, providing orthodox left-arm spin or over-the-wrist spin,” late Richie Benaud, renowned broadcaster, said.

In Barbados & in the company of greatness! 🫡 🫡#TeamIndia meet one of the greatest of the game – Sir Garfield Sobers 🙌 🙌#WIvIND pic.twitter.com/f2u1sbtRmP

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 5, 2023

In 2023 when Indian side was touring West Indies for white-ball series Rohit Sharma and premier batter Virat Kohli Sobers.

Sobers had his wife by his side and the clip has gone viral on social media.

Incidentally in 2020, Kohli was awarded with the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for male cricketer of the decade.

More to follow