Adam Gilchrist - The Gentleman Cricketer, Walker, Champion

[Plum]

Opening a thread for the greatest wicketkeeper-batsman in the history of Cricket. Apart from countless feathers in the cap, including 3 ODI World Cup medals, and several match-winning knocks, Post-retirement, Gilchrist has proven to be a great talent-groomer and winning captain.

In 2008, people claimed Shane Warne was the greatest captain Australia never had but by winning IPL in 2009, and repeating the feat in 2010, Gilchrist has gone a step ahead to claim that title. Although he did captain Australia for a few odd test matches, the IPL is where his ability to take a rag-tag unit and forge it into a match winning combination has come to the fore
* Rohit Sharma came to Deccan as a colt, and has emerged as a winning horse already
* T Suman was groomed out of nowhere to a reliable deliverer
* Harmeet Singh, who is no more than an equivalent of Joginder, has been groomed into a match winning bowler by Gilly. This is where Gilly scores over Dhoni. No hoping for the best possible talent - use the existing limited talent to match winning purposes.
* Reining in of Symonds, and Gibbs, and extracting the best out of them without allowing them to get into disciplinary problems
* Juggling Vaas/Harris shrewdly and selecting the right person among them for the right match. What shrewd thinking
* Making Pragyan Ojha the best spinner in India
* Second only to Rajasthan in having the mental strength to win close matches. If you consider the record since 2009, then Deccan emergers top on mental strength. Obviously, this speaks about the winning culture forged by Gilchrist in the Deccan environment. Now, this is called nurturing a winning environment

All in all, the best captain in 3 years of IPL looks all set to be the first captain to win back-to-back titles.

Given that this is the team that has taken second rung Indian talent and groomed them into match winners, I think fans of Indian Cricket team owe it to themselves to support Deccan Chargers over Mumbai and Chennai, no matter what their other affiliations are.

Adam Gilchrist's contribution to Indian Cricket will evventually surpass that of MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar - just wait and watch!

[Plum]

<reserved>

[Plum]

Reservd

[P_R]

The purpose of this thread is for Plum to use the following filmquote in a post in response to a befuddled hubber :" en kErattariayE purinjikku maattenguriyE"

[raajarasigan]

Plum

ungal sevai engalukku (read it as CSK) thevai..

vitta oru page fulla reserve panniduveenga pola...

[Plum]

Gilchrist is a Wonderful Walker - Tommy, Jimmy and Brownie
19 Apr 2007 Perth
The Western Australian Gazzette

Sports Cricket AussieRules RugbyLeague Tennis Other Main

by Graham Lalor

The pantheon of elite sportsmen is a closed world. It is not unusual to spot top sportsmen cutting across divisions of country or region to pour heartfelt tributes to a fellow champion. You dont feel surprised, for instance, at Shane Warne confessing to nightmares of Sachin. You wouldnt catch him saying similar things of Alec Stewart, would you?

It is also a world ridden with cliches, and standard issue responses. Which is why it is refreshing to talk about someone like Gilchrist, whose appeal cuts across nation, creed, caste, and as witnessed by this correspondent in a recent interviews, animal kingdom!

I am extremely proud to share with the world that I was fortunate enough to bag an exclusive with Tommy, Jimmy and Brownie, for 10 years, the closest companions of the man they call "Bow-Wow-Wow", the closest approrximation to Adam in their language.

Says Tommy, the tall German Shepherd, about his master "He is such a thorough gentleman. The key thing is he walks no matter what the situation. The other day I happened to suffer from a rare bout of constipation, and even the customary 10 rounds around Greenfield wasnt enough but "Bow-Wow-Wow" kept walking until I actually got relief. You wouldnt find many international cricketers who would do that".
Indeed, such chivalry is what sets Adam out from his otherwise brash, hated and feared colleagues. "It is not just us, his pets, who say this. You can see our brethren round the world take to him in a similar way", adds Brownie, a furry, cute pomeranian. "I was lucky enough to travel on the 2004 tour with him to India. He was the captain", pausing to say something about the incumbent captain that sounded like duck as the last word, " and with all the incessant pressure of conquering the final frontier, signing endless autographs, sponsors events, and having to maintain a cheery face, he still found time to take me on the morning walk every day around the hotel".
"This despite the security threats. Really, you can say he has earned that tag Walker. And you just had to see the way the street dogs - be it Ahemdabad, Pune or Nagpur - respond to him. Wherever we went, we always had a chorus of Indian dogs following us, asking him in our language to..mmmm..autograph in what I can only describe as delicate parts of their anatomy, Such is his appeal", added Brownie winking and chuckling at the last sentence.

Jimmy is a quiet sort of canine, not given to too many words. Yet, one could see the fondness he had for his master, although a little challenged of vocabulary.
"Woof woof. He call that Sri Lankan Dog a Chucker. Then ICC chumps force him retract but he speak truth. My master great" said the obviously enamoured puppy.

Indeed, in a world full of sporting icons in their ivory towers, Adam Gilchrist stands out with his reach across the world, across tribes, and across living forms.

[jinju]

aahaaa! idhula reserved veraya!

[hamid]

Plum.. u kantinue...

[Plum]

The Comparison

Openers: Hayden/Vijay vs Gilchrist/Mohnish or Gibbs
On paper, it is dead heat however Hayden's decline has been more terminal than Gilly's. While Gilchrist has mostly got out upping the ante, Hayden has had fundamental problems with facing spinners and slow medium pacers.
In terms of big match temparament, it is fair to say that Gilchrist has the pedigree. You just have to go back to last year's IPL Semis to understand this.

On this year's record, Chennai have the better pair, but cricketing sense would back Deccan pair to actually perform better in the semis

[Plum]

Joe, ungaLa nambi dhAn indha thread open paNNEn. Support paNNuvIngaLA?