Gilchrist: Inspiring Generations

by Goutham Chakravarthi

Bang! Four! Bang! Bang! Bang! Six! Six! Six! Delhi hardly knew what hit them; Gilchrist had swept them off their feet. It was like watching a golfer practise. Gilchrist just teed off and hit six after six, each longer and higher than the previous. We have seen him do it for well over a decade, but still each time he demolishes an opposition, and once more in a big game, you wonder how he does it.

Boycott once said that he played himself in on his walk to the middle from the pavilion. I don't think he bothers about gauging the opposition and the wicket, he just goes for it. Such belief in himself! He destroyed Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka in the '99, '03 and '07 world cup finals respectively. He has got to be among the greatest big-match players of his time.

He plays the Aussie way in the effect he goes after the opposition. If anything, he really targets the opposition's best bowler. Yet he became a walker in the latter part of his career. The Aussies believe in letting the umpires do their job and they never contemplate walking. The standing joke was that the Aussies never walked unless they were perhaps bowled. And that too, only if it was not a windy day!

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