Former Aussie gloveman and explosive bat, Adam Gilchrist talks to TOI about what makes India’s wicketkeeper so special with bat in hand, how he would have played Bumrah and why most big players struggle to say goodbye…
BRISBANE: The media and broadcast enclosures here at the Gabba are tightly packed units, buzzing with activity, trailing loops of wires and heavy equipment. Connecting them is a narrow, winding, claustrophobic corridor with barely room for two to walk alongside. It’s like being inside a space shuttle.
This is the engine room of the Gabba, and it is here that Adam Gilchrist, Australia’s iconic cricketer who redefined the role of a wicketkeeper-batter, has agreed to talk cricket. He seeks out a quiet corner. There is none. As he talks, people jostle past him. None of that matters because Gilchrist is talking about his favourite person, Shane Warne, the leg spinner with the gift who isn’t with us anymore.
“I miss Warney so much,” he tells TOI, then repeats for emphasis, “A great deal. Him and Andrew Symonds and Rod Marsh. We like to talk about them because it means we keep their legacy and spirit alive. You know, keeping wickets to Shane Warne was the highlight of my cricketing career.”
The highlight? This is Adam Gilchrist, one of the world’s most-loved cricketers, now or in his playing days. The marauder with bat in hand who made the best of bowlers look pedestrian. The white-ball belter who marched alongside Matthew Hayden to open, then proceeded to carve games open as Australia won three World Cups.
The explosive No. 7 in Tests who scored at a strike rate of 81.95 and scored 17 hundreds. The trailblazer who waited long to be picked for the longer format, then announced his intentions early, in just his second Test, with an unforgettable, unbeaten second-innings 149 in Hobart against Pakistan to fashion a chase of 369 runs.
Then there was Gilchrist the safe wicketkeeper, the one who eased into Ian Healy’s big shoes and then reshaped the role. There was the stand-in captain too, the one who conquered the final frontier by fashioning a series win in India. Listing all of Gilchrist’s achievements could take all day, but that’s not what’s on his mind.
It was the best thing I did in cricket, keeping wickets to Warney,” he continues, matter-of-factly. “He was okay for me to pick him out of the hand. I could read him from the hand, but that didn’t mean they were easy takes for me. With the same action and delivery, he spun some big, he spun some small. It was great fun. I had the best seat in the house when he bowled.”
So, was Warne the greatest modern era spinner? Gilchrist gives the impression he doesn’t like such comparisons. “I can only speak from my experience. I played against Murali. I played against Anil (Kumble). Harbhajan was hard for me, I had challenging times against Harbhajan. But I think Warnie was the greatest all-round cricketer that I’ve played with. His bowling, even his batting, his catching, his cricket mind, he was right up there, clearly one of the best spinners. He was such a great character.”
Talking about characters, Gilchrist’s current favourite is Rishabh Pant, and we move on quickly to the ongoing series as rain pelts the Gabba on Day One of the third Test. Maybe he sees a bit of himself in Pant, an explosive wicketkeeper-batter who can keep the Gilchrist flame burning?
Gilly’s eyes light up. “He’s a miracle, isn’t he? I watched on like the rest of the world, how nasty the accident was. The initial outlook didn’t look fantastic, but he’s worked some magic. Clearly a lot of dedication and hard work has gone into his recovery. Now to see him back on the field is wonderful,” he says, then declares unequivocally: “Pant is the most entertaining cricketer in the world right now.”
What is it about Pant that makes him so special? Gilchrist thinks for a few seconds, smiles and shakes his head as if impressed. “Well, we saw glimpses of that in Adelaide, didn’t we? You’re not sure what you’re going to get from him. What you do know is that he entertains. What I admire is his ability to go from defence to offence so quickly. He can look really calm and composed and then all of a sudden, almost stealth-like, he’ll attack the bowler, catch him off-guard. That’s a great quality. I’ve never played that falling scoop even in my backyard! I never even thought about it!”
Gilchrist isn’t too concerned that Pant has been inconsistent of late. “It’s not that big (of a problem). He hasn’t played a huge amount of cricket. I asked him about his leg, ‘keeping-wise, and he didn’t seem to think it was too much trouble. It was just about the recovery, making sure he puts ice on his knee every day. I used to do that too, and I never had the accident. For him to have his knee rebuilt, it must be challenging, but I think he’s really making a good fist of it. We’ve got to give him time.
“Also, his playing style is such that there’ll be patches when he won’t be consistent. I was a bit similar. I was an attacking player. That (inconsistency) comes with the territory, like Travis Head. There’ll be times when it won’t work, and people will say he’s being too attacking, but I think Pant should play his natural way. That’s the way he’ll get the best results. Be patient with him and trust that he’ll deliver more than he doesn’t deliver.”
Pant isn’t the only Indian cricketer to have charmed Australia’s cricket-loving masses on this tour, and this seems a good time to sneak the Jasprit Bumrah question in. How would ‘Gilly’ in his prime take down Bumrah? Could he even?
“I’m not too sure,” Gilchrist says, wide-eyed, and his mind goes back to his problems against Andrew Flintoff bowling around the wicket. “I faced Flintoff in his prime in 2005. As a left-hander it was very similar angles (to Bumrah), and that was really challenging.
“Somehow, you’ve got to try and find a way. You don’t have to be ultra-aggressive, just tick over the scoreboard a little bit, don’t get caught at the crease for too many of Bumrah’s deliveries in a row. Bumrah, if he can bowl two or three overs to the same batter, he can get accurate enough to try and create a chance. Just keep getting off strike!” Would the squash ball in his glove help? “Who knows,” he chortles.
Gilchrist closed his chapter in a hurry at 96 Tests, walking away the moment he felt things weren’t quite the same and late-career struggles started overwhelming the mind. Does he think most ageing batting stalwarts stick around longer even as their powers wane, in vain hope of a final hurrah or a few more years at the top? How did ‘Gilly’ himself feel about things at the end?
“Well, I retired,” he says, bluntly. “I just got out of there. I knew as soon as I dropped VVS Laxman it was time for me to go (in Adelaide, Jan 2008, Gilchrist’s last Test). A lot of these players, when they hit that age, it just starts to drop off a bit. I went into my last Test having no idea I was going to retire. And then I dropped a catch off that bloke’s bowling!”
Gilchrist points to pace legend Brett Lee, who is smiling quietly in the corner. Lee has been listening in for a while now, and chimes in, “He’s only ever dropped one in his life!”
With that, it’s time to go, just like Gilchrist did all those years ago, but he still wants the last word on the issue. “Mother Nature plays its part. I can’t comment for anyone else apart from myself.” And on that note, Adam Gilchrist, once-destroyer of worlds, disappears into the labyrinths of the Gabba.
