Who’s the greatest all-rounder?

Published April 28, 2007

LONDON, April 27: Sobers or Imran. Legendary all-rounders. But who is the greatest of all time?

Like all questions, it depends on who you ask.

West Indies star Sir Garry Sobers, whose home ground of Kensington Oval in Barbados is the venue for Saturday's World Cup final, is tops according to the respected Cricinfo website.

“Sir Garry Sobers is not just the greatest all-rounder ever, but the greatest player,” said Cricinfo editor Sambit Bal.

“He was the most natural cricketer you would ever want to see and quite simply he could do it all. He is in the top 10 greatest batsmen of all time, he took over 200 Test wickets and was a sensational fielder who could field in multiple positions.”

However, in a public poll of over 10,000 site users, Pakistan's 1992 World Cup winning captain, Imran Khan, came out on top as best all-rounder winning 37-percent of the vote.

Top 10 greatest all-rounders (Cricinfo people's poll):

1. Imran Khan 37 percent, 2. Sir Garry Sobers 14, 3. Wasim Akram 13, 4. Kapil Dev 11, 5. Ian Botham 7, 6. Jacques Kallis 6, 7. Sir Learie Constantine 5, 8. Richard Hadlee 3, 9. Adam Gilchrist 2, 10. Shaun Pollock 1.—AFP

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