Sonam Tobgay (born 25 March 1990) is a Bhutanese sportsman who has represented his country in both,

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. On 7 December 2019, he became the first batsman to be

retired out In cricket, a batsman may retire from an innings at any time when the ball is dead; they must then be replaced by a teammate who has not been dismissed. The most common reason for retirement is if the batsman becomes injured or unwell, in which ...

in a T20I.

Career

His international tournaments for the

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

include the

2006 ACC Trophy The 2006 ACC Trophy was a cricket tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, taking place between 14 August and 26 August 2006. It gave associate and affiliate members of the Asian Cricket Council experience in international one-day cricket. This was ...

, the

2009 ACC Trophy Challenge The 2009 ACC Trophy Challenge was a cricket tournament in Chiang Mai, Thailand, taking place between 12 and 21 January 2009. It gave Associate and Affiliate members of the Asian Cricket Council experience of international one-day cricket and a ...

, the

2010 ACC Trophy Elite The 2010 ACC Trophy Elite was a cricket tournament in Kuwait, taking place between March 31 and April 9, 2010. It gives Associate and Affiliate members of the Asian Cricket Council experience of international one-day cricket and also helps forms ...

, the

2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Eight The 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Eight was a cricket tournament that took place from November 6 to 12, 2010 in Kuwait. It formed part of the World Cricket League competition administered by the International Cricket Council, the internat ...

, the

2011 ACC Twenty20 Cup The 2011 ACC Twenty20 Cup was played between 3–11 December 2011 in Nepal. The tournament acted as a qualifying tournament for the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. The tournament was won by defending champions Afghanistan who defeated Hong Kon ...

, the

2012 ICC World Cricket League Division Eight The 2012 ICC World Cricket League Division Eight was a cricket tournament which took place on 15–22 September 2012 in Samoa. It formed part of the World Cricket League and 2019 Cricket World Cup qualifying.

, the

2012 ACC Trophy Elite The 2012 ACC Trophy Elite is a cricket tournament in UAE, taking place between 3 and 12 October 2012. It gives Associate and Affiliate members of the Asian Cricket Council experience of international one-day cricket and also helps form an essen ...

, the 2014 ACC Elite League, and the 2017 ICC World Cricket League Asia Region Division One. He scored 55 runs against

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

in the 2014 ACC Elite League, though his team still lost by 300 runs. Tobgay made his first appearance for the

Bhutan national football team The Bhutan national football team represents Bhutan in international men's association football, football. The team is controlled by the governing body for football in Bhutan, the Bhutan Football Federation, which is a member of the Asian Footb ...

in their final

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

qualifying match against

the Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

, coming on as a substitute in the 76th minute. He has played in six international football matches for

to date. He made his

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(T20I) debut for Bhutan in the

2019 South Asian Games The 2019 South Asian Games, officially the XIII South Asian Games, was a major multi-sport event which was originally slated to be held from 9 to 18 March 2019 in Kathmandu and Pokhara, Nepal. However, the dates were postponed and the event was ...

against

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

on 5 December 2019. During a group stage match against

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

during the 2019 South Asian Games, he tactically retired out at the end of the 19th over of the Bhutanese innings after scoring 24 off 35 balls as he was struggling for timing throughout the innings. It became the first instance where a batsman retired out in a T20I match although the match happened to be part of a multi-sport event rather than an ICC event or a bilateral series. The T20 cricket tournament at the 2019 South Asian Games was given official international status by the ICC which confirmed that the retired out incident which took place during the tournament between Bhutan and Maldives was deemed as first ever instance to happen in T20I cricket.

References

Bhutanese footballers Bhutan international footballers Living people Association football forwards Bhutanese cricketers 1990 births Bhutan Twenty20 International cricketers {{Bhutan-footy-bio-stub