Kallis enjoys Garry Sobers-like admiration in South Africa

"He didn't have to score a double-century to prove his greatness though. He is right up there with the Procters and Pollocks, Kallis is a living legend," Jackman added.u00a0

Kallis, who has 11,449 runs and 267 wickets in a career spanning 142 Tests, is the sport's greatest all-rounder since Sir Garfield Sobers, Jackman reckoned.

"I have seen Sobers, I have played against Sobers. And I can assure you that Kallis is the only cricketer who has come close to the great Garfield. Nobody in the last five decades has come closer.

"He could have taken a lot more wickets had he played for a side with a weaker bowling attack. There's nothing he cannot do on a cricket field - bat for hours together with the most correct technique, bowl at almost 90mph and take splendid catches in the slips.

"Few years back critics started to write him off, he came back strongly, even in Twenty20. He shares his place among the greatest of greatest that this country has had to offer. And trust me I have seen some fantastic South African cricketers who never played at the international level during the exile period. Kallis is right up there, not just as a cricketer on the park, but also as a human being," Jackman said.

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