From as far back in life as I can remember, I’ve been an avid follower of cricket. So I’ve vivid memories of Kiran More walking in at no. 8 and our expectations of him to score a 30 or 40. But that’s about it. We never expected our wicket keeper to do too much with the bat. As long as he played the role of the unsung hero (that’s pretty much what keepers were in those days) well enough, we’d be more than happy. And then came Adam Gilchrist!!
Adam Gilchrist is cricket’s greatest ambassador, period!! The man re-defined the role of an all rounder, he single handedly created the concept of the wicket keeper all rounder; he embodied the values of a gentleman in cricket; he knicked, he walked irrespective of the situation (2003 World Cup semi finals comes to mind) and finally he made cricket exciting. Here was a man who never really understood the meaning of the word: graft; yet he walked in innumerable times at No. 7 and changed the course of match in a matter of hours.
Post the Sydney Test, all the respect I had for the Austrialians was lost. I believed and still do that they are able cricketers but ill-spirited sportsmen. (Ricky Ponting, may you rot in hell, you liar). But even amongst all this, there was one man who stood tall and that was Adam Gilchrist. On his interview with Harsha Bhogle (Harsha Unplugged), the man answered rather uncomfortable questions with a straight face. He made no bones about pointing out what was right and what was wrong. He did not come across as righteous, he came across as human (the honesty with which he spoke about the Dravid dismissal was amazing).
Australia have lost many stalwarts in 2007 (McGrath, Wane, Langer) but this one will probably hurt them the most. More importantly, world cricket will probably never find another Adam Gilchrist ever again. Sunil Gavaskar was right: very few people get the kind of ovation (from crowds and opponents alike) Gilly got when he walked out to bat yesterday; because there are very few people like him to have ever played the game.
We’ll miss you, Gilly. The game will go on but cricket will never be the same again!!
Adam Gilchrist is cricket’s greatest ambassador, period!! The man re-defined the role of an all rounder, he single handedly created the concept of the wicket keeper all rounder; he embodied the values of a gentleman in cricket; he knicked, he walked irrespective of the situation (2003 World Cup semi finals comes to mind) and finally he made cricket exciting. Here was a man who never really understood the meaning of the word: graft; yet he walked in innumerable times at No. 7 and changed the course of match in a matter of hours.
Post the Sydney Test, all the respect I had for the Austrialians was lost. I believed and still do that they are able cricketers but ill-spirited sportsmen. (Ricky Ponting, may you rot in hell, you liar). But even amongst all this, there was one man who stood tall and that was Adam Gilchrist. On his interview with Harsha Bhogle (Harsha Unplugged), the man answered rather uncomfortable questions with a straight face. He made no bones about pointing out what was right and what was wrong. He did not come across as righteous, he came across as human (the honesty with which he spoke about the Dravid dismissal was amazing).
Australia have lost many stalwarts in 2007 (McGrath, Wane, Langer) but this one will probably hurt them the most. More importantly, world cricket will probably never find another Adam Gilchrist ever again. Sunil Gavaskar was right: very few people get the kind of ovation (from crowds and opponents alike) Gilly got when he walked out to bat yesterday; because there are very few people like him to have ever played the game.
We’ll miss you, Gilly. The game will go on but cricket will never be the same again!!
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