The dichotomy between Sobers and Imran is glaring. They are both all rounders at the very peak of what the sport has produced, but the differences between them couldn't be more stark.
One was the pinnacle of the bowling all rounder, ATG fast bowler while being a good lower order batsman and a captain of note.
The other one of the greatest batsmen ever, who was an over utilized but versatile and more than capable change bowler, who also happened to be one of the greatest slip and overall fielders of all time.
In a generic comparison between equally matched opponents in their primary skill, I would always lean bowler as I believe they are more important. Though ironically I rate lower order batting not as highly as most and at best on par with the other secondary skills in utility and practice.
I however believe that Sobers was slightly better and is more highly rated as a batsman than Imran is as a bowler. Sobers is a genuine top 3 candidate for best batsman after Bradman, while I and most don't quite rate Imran as a top candidate as the best bowler ever. Similarly Sobers walks into an ATG XI as a batsman alone, while Imran would struggle to do so based purely on his merits as a specialist bowler.
As far as their secondary skills go I feel like both are over played to a degree and both took advantage of captaincy to their benefit.
Though there were times that the bowling depth was so bad that Worrell had to open the bowling, it does appear that he was genuinely over bowled (or genuinely over bowled himself), seemingly more often that than not, as a stock bowler, sometimes bowling twice the amount of overs as the opening attack and to modest results, only 3 genuine match winning 5 wickets hauls with the ball.
There was an analysis earlier in the thread stating that Imran didn't have any match winning innings, which devolved into an argument about what constituted a match winning innings, with the argument being that match saving innings should be included. What I will say is that from his hundreds scored only one resulted in a win and it was an innings where there were 3 other hundreds scored.
What definitively separates the two for me is their tertiary skills.
I've said that I rate and value Sir Garry's slip catching higher than I do his bowling, and at most he should have been utilized similar to how Kallis was. His role in an ATG XI would be to bat, take everything at 2nd and bowl the occasional spell to rest the primary guys. To quote "he was in the league of Hammond and Simpson in the slips", can't get much better than that.
What makes a great captain is very subjective and there have been advocates and detractors in this thread. What I will say is that it can be broken down into 3 aspects. Win- loss record, great tactical ability and great leadership and the ability to encourage and unite a team. From most reports his strong point was the latter, and while it would have served Pakistan brilliantly it's harder to tangibly measure and potentially less transferable. He did manage to bring Pakistan together to challenge the greatest team of the era and assisted with the development of his fast bowling successors. His role in an ATG XI, which he easily makes for CW, would be that of first change bowler, utilizing his mastery of reverse swing, a no. 8 batsman and possibly an inspirational vice captain to the Don.
All in all, I believe that Sobers has a slight edge in primary skills, the're a wash with regards to the secondary, and with Sir Garry more definitively taking the tertiary skills and the overall contest in my humble opinion.
