Adam Gilchrist, a man who changed the approach of opening bating, the great Australian opener, arguably the best wicketkeeper and one of the best batsman of his time who also was a former captain of Australia cricket team and today this legend turns 53 years old.
Gilchrist was born in Australia on November 14, 1971. He is now currently a commentator but he was once a destructive force that used to frighten the opposition bowlers.
He scored 50 or more while batting for Australia in each and every ICC World Cup final of the three back to back world cups that Australia won (1999, 2003, 2007).
He is the only player to have scored 50+ runs in three back to back ICC world cup finals.
He performed in each final to win the cup for the Aussies from which his match winning innings of 149 of 101 balls during the 2007 World Cup final is the most mentionable one.
But was Gilchrist like this from the beginning, did he always play in the opening position? The answer to that will be, no.
The beginning of Gilly
Gilchrist made his international debut for Australia against South Africa on October 25, 1996.
At that time wicketkeepers were not considered good batsman rather they were selected for their wicket keeping abilities who could somewhat be a back up or a part time batsman as well.
He got the chance in the Australian cricket team as a replacement keeper because the regular wicketkeeper Ian Healy was injured, and Gilchrist came on to bat at no 7.
Gilchrist was made the permanent wicket-keeper of the Australian team during 1997-98 cricketing season.
But he was not taken for his batting he was made permanent because of his keeping skills.
But on 25 January 1998, when Gilchrist scored a century in the Final of tri-nation cup against South Africa, the thinking that a wicket keeper couldn’t bat well changed in the world of cricket.
Gilchrist was a powerful left-handed batsman and a record-setting wicketkeeper who changed the way the role was played for Australia. His attacking batting style brought a new energy to the team and redefined what was expected from a wicketkeeper.
And the decision that followed after this, made it even more clear that a wicketkeeper could also have great bating skills.
The Captain with vision
Steve Waugh, one of the most successful captains of Australia, he won the 1999 ICC World Cup being the captain of the team.
He was the captain of the Australian team from 1997-2002. He took a bold and risky decision. He decided to promote Gilchrist to opening position.
It was a gamble which he played, of promoting a talented and skilled middle order batsman to opening position and that’s when Adam Gilchrist started his career as an opening batsman.
After this decision, Gilchrist never looked back, neither did he let down his captain.
He went on and became one the best batsman of his time.
Gilchrist`s way of Cricket
He was the batsman who taught the cricket world that even in Test cricket one can attack the ball and play aggressively, he revolutionized the way batsman used to play Test cricket.
On November 22, 1999, Gilchrist made his Test debut for Australia, though he could not perform really good in his debut match, but he went on to play an innings of 149 runs facing 163 balls in the second Test match he played.
And his Test debut season was a dreamy start where he scored 485 runs with an average of 69.28 in six matches.
From this point he started to dominate all formats of the game for the next seven to eight years.
Gilchrist is the fastest Australian to score a century in Test cricket, he achieved this record when he scored a 57 ball century during the 2006 Ashes.
Not only in Test cricket, Gilchrist was known for his explosive batting in the ODI format as well.
He was also known as “Gilly Rocket” in IPL for the aggressive display of his batting.
Career Stats
During his ODI career from 1996-2008 he scored 9619 runs with an average of 35.89 in 279 innings which he played.
Gilchrist scored 16 centuries and 55 half centuries in his 12 years ODI career.
And since 1999-2008 he has played 137 innings in Test cricket where he scored 5570 runs with an impressing average of 47.60.
He has scored one double century, 17 centuries and 26 half centuries in his test career.
Not only these, Gilchrist is also one of the best wicketkeeper ever. He still holds the record of the second most dismissals with 905 dismissals across all formats and also owns the record of second most catches (813) across all formats.
Arguably one of the Greatest of the game
So, a wicketkeepers who could destroy any bowling line up with his batting, that was Adam Gilchrist, no one had seen such a combination before him.
When he came on to open an innings, oppositions used to get confused about which bowler will bowl to him, which bowler can stop him.
He showed the world that you can attack the pace bowlers, and take em on.
He and Hayden showed the world how to score runs during the powerplay.
The cricket world learnt from Gilchrist that one can take on the bowler from the very first over. The way Gilchrist played was mesmerizing, his shot selection and sheer power to muscle through any field or any team was just extra ordinary.
And he used to do all that being a world class wicketkeeper who set records which are yet to be broken.
Today, wicket keepers are needed to be good batsman and Gilchrist is the sole reason behind this. He raised the standards and set the bar really high for the wicketkeepers.
He showed the world what a wicketkeeper can do apart from keeping the stumps. Gilchrist is amongst the only three players who have won the ICC World Cup three times.
Adam Gilchrist arguably the greatest wicketkeeping batsman that the world of cricket has ever seen.
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