Will there be another like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Adam-Gilchrist-c918? - Opinion
He was the most exhilarating cricketer of his generation and was a man who could annihilate attacks all around the world. He managed to raise the bar for wicket keeping and batsmanship to the point of hurling it out of sight for those who dared to replicate.
For the most part of Australia’s dominance in World cricket from the late 1990s to the 2000s, he was one of the key figures in a dazzling set of players. He was none other than Adam Gilchrist.
With an average of nearly 50 in Test matches and 36 in one day international cricket, Adam Gilchrist was one of the most formidable and exciting batsmen of his time. Yet there was more to him than just batting. He snapped a total of 888 dismissals as a wicket
keeper in both colored and white clothing, which needs some getting in contemporary times. It was years before the classy Sanga, the brute Mccullum and the gutsy Prior came to the fore. Adam Gilchrist had long made his mark in world cricket which stands unparalleled.
The script is not expected to change in the near future. His ability to dismiss batsmen behind the stumps was a site for the Gods. Tumbling catches came naturally to Gilchrist and his ability to stump players off of the guile and zip of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shane-Keith-Warne-c89672 made
him remarkable. For opposition batsmen it seemed unfathomable, to not watch in awe over Gilchrist’s skills behind the wickets. For opposing bowlers however, getting Gilchrist out would mean that their team might have a slight chance of beating http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 which
bordered on the preposterous for the most part of the 2000s.
Gilchrist was similar to many match winners of his generation such as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SR-Tendulkar-c2556. He has always had the ability to play numerous match winning innings, which helped Australia snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. For those who considered
him to be a brute basher back then were proven horribly wrong. His unbeaten 149 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in the Hobart Test of 1999 has gone down as one of the finest innings in Test history. Gilchrist who was relatively new to the international circuit, managed to
rescue his side from a precarious situation by dealing with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wasim-Akram-c96292 with impunity. If that innings was considered to be a once in a blue moon sort of affair, then the worst was to come for the South Africans in 2002. On a fast Joburg
track, Gilchrist belted 204 in what was then, the fastest double hundred in Test cricket. That innings not only blew http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 out of the game but ensured that they stayed second in Test match rankings for as long as Gilchrist played.
His achievements as a player are significant, yet Gilchrist will be best remembered for his gentleman like behavior on the field. Very seldom would he get flustered, and his sledging ability would always be in check. Yet something that would be associated
with Gilly forever would be his inclination to walk when he knew that he hit the ball despite the umpire thinking otherwise. A prime example of this was the World Cup Semi-Final of 2003 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 at St. Georges Park, where Gilly had the audacity to
acknowledge that he hit the ball when the umpire gave him not out. Other players in such a high profile game would have most probably resorted to staying still and taking advantage of an error by the umpire, but Gilchrist was a man of principles.
He was beset with no more than a ‘squash ball’s controversy’ for his entire career. Yet for a man of such stature that was bound to happen in any case. In contemporary times, young wicket keepers model themselves on Gilchrist and aim to replicate his style;
however, it is fair to say that the chances of another Gilly-like player coming to the fore are very slim.
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