By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Tributes poured in from batting legends Sunil Gavaskar and Brian Lara, who remembered the passing away of Sir Garry Sobers with heavy heart.
“Our greatest player has left us. My deepest condolences to every member of his family who stood by him and gave him the strength he needed when he needed it most. May they find comfort and peace during this incredibly difficult time. Rest easy, legend. Your legacy will never be forgotten,” said Lara in a brief message on the social media.
Sobers’ monumental unbeaten 365 against Pakistan in Kingston in 1958 remained the highest individual Test score for 36 years until Lara surpassed it in 1994.
Batting great Gavaskar also paid an emotional tribute to Sobers saying he was the ultimate benchmark of cricket. “It is with an incredibly heavy heart that I hear the news of the passing of the greatest of them all, Sir Garfield Sobers. For anyone who loves this beautiful game, Sir Garry wasn’t just a cricketer; he was the ultimate standard of what a cricketer could be,” Gavaskar said.
“When we talk about all-rounders today, we often look at players who can balance two disciplines. But Sir Garry? He was a master of five. He could bat like a dream, bowl fast-medium with the new ball, switch seamlessly to orthodox left-arm spin, bowl wrist spin, and field like a panther at short leg or in the slips. To watch him walk onto a cricket field, with that loose, rhythmic Caribbean stride, collars turned up, was to watch absolute majesty in motion. He played the game with a sublime joy and a fierce, competitive dignity that defined an entire era, “ Gavaskar said.
“I remember the sheer awe he inspired whenever India played the West Indies. You couldn’t take your eyes off him. Even when he was taking the game away from you, you couldn’t help but marvel at the genius of the man. His 365 not out stood as a mountain for decades, and those six sixes in an over became the stuff of folklore. Yet, off the field, he was always an absolute gentleman—warm, incredibly generous with his knowledge, and fiercely proud of the game’s finest traditions.
Cricket has lost its brightest jewel today. The stands are a little quieter, and the game is poorer without him. My deepest condolences go out to his family, his friends, and to every cricket lover across the Caribbean and the world who is mourning this incomparable loss,” Gavaskar said.