This great cricketer had more than one finger in his hands since birth, that is, 12 fingers were in his hands in total. Yes! Sir Gary Sobers is being talked about. Sir Gary, who is one of the five best cricketers of Wisden’s century (20th century), turned 84 today. He was born on 28 July 1936 in Barbados. Modern cricket is the gift of WG Grace, while Sobers is remembered for giving new heights to cricket.
In ‘Gary Sobers: My Autobiography’, he has mentioned that ‘USP (12 fingers)’. Sobers wrote, ‘Other kids would say that I was very good at cricket because I had six fingers in my hand … Actually, the first extra finger fell quite quickly when I was about 9 or 10 years old. I played cricket for the first time with 11 fingers and after that, at the age of 14 or 15, I got my second hand removed.
Sobers, the best all-rounder, excelled in every genre of cricket. While he made a big splash with his batting, he was surprised by his leg spin, chinaman and medium speed bowling. Sobers converted his first century into a triple century in 1958 at the age of just 21. He then scored an unbeaten 365 against Pakistan at Kingston, a world record. After 36 years, Brian Lara managed to beat that score.
In 1966, Sobers won the West Indies series against England on his own. During that time, he not only scored 94 runs in addition to three centuries above 160 runs, but also took 20 wickets while bowling.
A wonderful feat was added in 1968 to Sobers. He hit 6 sixes in all 6 balls of Malcolm Nash’s over from Glamorgan while playing from Nottinghamshire in English County. Then it was seen for the first time in first class cricket. In 1985, Ravi Shastri equaled this record by hitting 6 sixes to Tilak Raj of Baroda.
The great sobers said goodbye to cricket in 1974. In a career of 93 Test matches, he scored 8032 runs at an average of 57.78, as well as 235 wickets. His name is 26 centuries and 30 half-centuries.
Sobers had an affair with Indian actress Anju Mahendru. It is said that the marriage of Anju and Sobers was almost sure. Both were also engaged, but could not get married. Anju’s parents were angry with this relationship. Sobers finally married Australian girl Pru Kirbe in 1969. Both are now divorced. They both have two sons. He also adopted a daughter.
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