The West Indies toured India in 1966-67 under Garfield Sobers. I was 11 years old and thrilled to get a 5-day ‘season ticket’ to the match from my father for having done well in the half-yearly exams.This was the second Test I would be watching in my life. The first was India against Australia two years earlier at the same venue. Seeing Nawab of Pataudi’s team beat Bob Simpson’s Aussies against all odds in a humdinger was an exhilarating experience which got me hooked to cricket for life.Against West Indies, however, when I scan the scorecard to refresh my memory, India put up a spirited fight but were outplayed by a side superior in all departments of the game.There were several significant performances from either side.Conrad Hunte and Chandu Borde made a century each, debutant Clive Lloyd made half centuries in both innings, Tiger Pataudi and Salim Durrani shone with the bat and Bhagwat Chandrashekhar’s 11 wickets stands out as among the more valiant efforts in a losing cause in cricket history.Also read: Goodbye, Sir Gary Sobers: A Cricketer’s Six, and a SaluteThe most compelling performance was from Garfield Sobers, captain of West Indies.Leading into the Test, gossip about his dalliance with budding actor Anju Mahendroo had grabbed more headlines than his renowned all-round skills. But once he took the field, Sobers gave ample evidence of the full range of his genius.He took five wickets bowling left-arm fast and spin, three brilliant catches and scored two majestic half centuries, the second of these in a sizzling run chase to be in time for horse races at Mahalaxmi.The Test had only spilled over into the 5th day because of an extraordinary call made by Sobers when India were batting in the second innings. He picked up a sharp catch in the leg trap of Budhi Kunderan. The appeal was instantly upheld but Sobers asked the umpire to reverse his decision indicating the catch had been taken on the half volley. This reprieve allowed Kundaren score a blistering 79.Sobers’s amazing gesture made a lasting impression on me. It was a demonstration that cricket was not just about winning and losing. Why and how you played game was equally if not more significant.This attribute finds expression in historian-philosopher C.L.R. James’s profound rhetorical question: “What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?”The much-tom-tommed spirit of cricket, always under duress since the inception of the game has had to be constantly reiterated, forced, re-enforced. In Sobers, it was intrinsic, inviolable.In 1989 when I toured the West Indies (Dilip Vengsarkar was leading India in the Caribbean) I spent as much time as possible with Tony Cozier, the leading voice on West Indies cricket across all media – to understand the Sobers phenomena better.Cozier was very close to Sir Garry and I was keen to get an exclusive one-on-one with him, more specifically to ask him about Indo-West Indies cricket in the1950s and 60s. India had toured West Indies in 1953 and 1962 and hosted the Caribbean team in 1958-59. In1953, Sobers wasn’t part of the Test team. In 1958-59, he had top-scored in the series. By 1962, he had announced himself as the world’s premier all-rounder.Also read: #666666: West Indian Legend and Genius Cricketer Garry Sobers Will Be MissedTony was most helpful, but the in-person interview never materialised. Cozier allayed my disappointment by fixing a meeting instead with leg-spinner Subhash Gupte, who had played in 1953 and 1959, then married and settled down in San Jose, not far from Port of Spain. “Nobody knows Sir Garry better as a cricketer,” said Cozier.A handful of us, including Sanjay Manjrekar whose father Vijay had been Gupte’s closest friend in theIndian team, met the Gupte family over lunch in his home. Gupte’s record against West Indies was outstanding. He had bowled to the likes of Weekes, Walcott and Worrell at their peak and against Sobers, Kanhai and others five years later. How was Sobers to bowl at compared to the other West Indian greats, everyone wanted to know. “The best batsman I’ve bowled to, the quickest judge of line and length, and with the widest repertoire of strokes. He was a class apart” said Fergie Gupte with a finality that brooked no dispute.In 1991, along with some journalists from India and other countries, I was invited to South Africa by Dr Ali Bacher to witness the first step in that country’s return to international cricket after being banned for more than 20 years for apartheid.Nelson Mandela had been freed after 27 years in jail, apartheid was being dismantled, the ANC was on the cusp of winning power. This political climate, Bacher felt, was ripe, to send out a signal to the world that South Africa was earnest and ready to make the changes that would allow them re-entry into international cricket.It was a mega event for which Bacher had invited distinguished players from across the world. Sunil Gavaskar was to attend from India, Richie Benaud from Australia. Ian Botham from England, Viv Richards and Sir Garfield Sobers from West Indies, Imran Khan from Pakistan.From this high-powered list, Viv Richards and Imran Khan withdrew early. Perhaps because they were still both active and captains of their respective national teams, though there was some buzz that both weren’t convinced it was politically astute to make the trip. Botham too withdrew at the last minute. Someone during that trip mentioned that England all-rounder had said he “wouldn’t be able to look my friend Viv’’ in the eye, if he did come when the West Indian had backed off.Sir Garry, however was there. Getting him to attend was a coup. Along with Benaud and Gavaskar there a trio of great players to give the event gravitas and relevance, as well as and superb after dinner speakers and raconteurs to add delectable flavour.Sir Garry showed biting wit and a ready repartee which endeared him to audiences. for someone of his eminence in the game, he would occasionally be self-deprecatory (I’ve played a bit myself) or dive into profound insight. “I’ve learnt a little bit from this game.”You score 100 one inning and in the next you find 99 have been vanished in just one ball. Cricket teaches you to be on alert at all times in life, but also always humble.”In 2004, Sir Garry was the brand ambassador for the ODI World Cup played in South Africa. I met him intermittently during the tournament, at match venues very briefly or airports waiting for flights when there was more time. He looked grumpy throughout, not for anything else but, as I gathered, because of acute arthritic discomfort.One occasion I got to spend some time with him while we were both waiting for a flight. I asked him which Indian players he had played against or had impressed him over. He mentioned Dilip Sardesai, Ajit Wadekar, Nari Contractor, Salim Durrani, Poly Umrigar, Vijay Hazare; Sunil Gavaskar he spoke of at a greater length. “The best and most technically correct opening batsman I’ve seen,” he said.But He was most spontaneous and complimentary about leg spinner Subhash Gupte. “Fergie was clever and skilful, always probing, plotting with brilliant control. . He was a greater leg-spinner than Shane Warne he said, (an opinion he was to repeat on several occasions. “I enjoyed my duels with him. You should ask him about me,” Sir Garry quipped.I related my conversation with Subhash Gupte 15 years earlier. Did he know, I asked, that Gupte had not been chosen for the 1962 tour of the West Indies because he (and Kripal Singh) had been found with female visitors in their hotel rooms during the preceding home series against England?Sobers broke into a piercing guffaw. He sounded thoroughly amused, but I reckon he was just aghast.The last time I met Sir Garry was in March 2010. Ajit Wadekar had organised a reunion of the 1971 team which had beaten West Indies heralding the renaissance of Indian cricket. He had called his counterpart in that memorable series as a special invitee.Sobers’s presence at the event, held in front of a packed Nehru Centre in Mumbai was warm, nostalgic, fun-filled. Apart from Wadekar and several of his 1971 teammates, contemporary stars like Sachin Tendulkar, M S Dhoni and Zaheer Khan were also in attendance.An extended audiovisual presentation highlighted Sober’s cricket genius with clips from various matches, including the imperious 254 for a World XI versus Australia in 1971-72 when he cut a rampaging and brash Dennis Lillee down to size, and also the historic six sixes in an over off Malcolm Nash in country cricket.Sir Garry had the audience in thrall – with his charismatic persona, his vivid memories and sharp insights on several aspects of the game. And with his sense of humour. Of the six sixes in an over, he quipped, “I made the record but Nash made all the money!”In Sir Garfield Sobers’ passing cricket has lost its greatest player ever. For many decades, this assessment would come prefixed with ‘arguably’. This is now superfluous. His multifaceted aspects of his cricketing persona and his level of excellence in all attributes – batting, bowling, fielding, with the statistics that come with them – mark him out as peerless.Through the turbulent and turmoil-ridden decades 1960s and 1970s in post-World War 2, haunted by the tyranny of racial discrimination and other inequalities, Sobers, like Muhammad Ali and Pele in other disciplines, though their exploits challenged the status quo, succouring the desire and thrust for a new world order.Ayaz Memon has been a journalist for 42 years writing on sports, politics and social issues.