Few do it by compulsion, others do it by passion, and few others do it by obsession and yet others and very few are those who don’t just do it but takes it to the next level and leave behind marks for others to try and follow. In the year 1996, A man walked in to the middle with a traditional baggy green cap signifying pride for playing for Australia and a pair of gloves and the whole stadium welcomed successor of great Ian Healy who still is termed as all time great wicket keeper the game has seen, however what game had not seen before this young man walked in to the middle was a perfect fusion of flawless keeping and aggressive batting, Adam Gilchrist changed the way wicket keepers used to play the game and with in no time, every teamin the world was taking notice and all the coaches have only one thing to tell their keepers, “you keep well, but you have to bat as well as gilly does”. He created a different league of players in his own domain. Gilly was as devastating in Tests as he was in ODI’s. He is the first player to reach the milestone of hitting..hold your breath…100 sixes …in test matches and any guesses against whom he hit last two sixes of those?..well all time great Muttiah Muralitharan. Ask any new bal
l bowler and he would describe it to you that how Gilly butchered him almost every time he dared to bowl to him. Ask any batsman about his reaction after edging a ball or missing a ball outside the crease when gilly is behind the stumps, and the answer would be unanimous, you don’t need to look behind coz this man with hands of gold hardly ever missed and executed every dismissal with perfection.
Few of his quotes from his blog characterize his personality
“I am of the opinion that the cricket ball is there to be hit rather than defended, and this sometimes leads to my demise”
“There is no value in looking back at what we have done. We must play for the day, and focus on doing our jobs”
“Returning to India is a pleasure. This is a wonderful country, and cricket fans here are amongst the most knowledgeable in the world”
Unlike most of the Australian players, he stands out in terms of discipline and sportsm
anship, in his wonderful journey, he was unbelievably stain less and was never ever involved in any controversies and why would he be, when you can let your gloves and bat talk and that too big time! Gilchrist is renowned for walking when he considers himself to be out, sometimes contrary to the decision of the umpire
Australian Cricket has produced many great cricket players and few of them have proved to be real “Heroes” for the cricketing world and Adam for sure tops the charts. Experts compare d his batting style with great Sir Viv Richards however, I believe, he was in to his own domain and needs no comparison.
Australian cricket for sure will feel the void of such a great player and with Mc grath, Warne and now gilly, Oz would be little worried for the world cup 2011.
Today when this great sportsman takes his final flight with ODI’s, he has surely left few hearts sore and craving for more as he walks in to the sunset. The game has seen many greats and would continue to do so but with players like gilly calling it a day, it would be not just tough but next to be impossible to find a replacement as they have created a structure so great and unspoiled that no one else would ever be able to fit in to it.
As they say that A picture speaks of thousand words. Here’s a video on you tube in tribute to this great player (PS: I found it on you tube, I did not make it J )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDea0Z5urDM
We will miss seeing you in action gilly!
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