Close to a month ago...Adam "Church" Gilchrist ,the cricketer I admire the most, hung up his gloves...Yes…He announced his retirement…leaving some people baffled…some suspicious….some happy opponents and a whole lot of sad people who would obviously miss such a great batsman and a gem of a human being, on the filed….I belonged to that sad lot as he is 1 player whom I admire more than anyone else…He is one player who makes me watch Australian matches ….he is one player who makes me feel really proud of being left handed myself…he is 1 player who makes me feel really happy when he scores…
As I said….not more than a month ago…he retired during the Indian tour of the Aussies…It came as a sad news to me as I had loved him in every form of the game…and every aspect of it…be it batting and keeping in a Test match or a One day International…Gilly was a thorough entertainer as well as a true professional…
It sure was very sad to see him go and the fact that we’ll never see him play those classy and magnificent strokes….those elegant drives through cover and those field piercing shots through the on side, is indeed very saddening…. Not to forget the huge sixers clearing the field and the ever dangerous pull shot….and his agility behind the stumps makes him the best in business…
In all…Adam Gilchrist …the best player I have ever seen….had sadly just retired from International cricket…
Just after the series had winded up…and Gilly announced his retirement…we obviously were talking about him….proving a point to those who criticized him….talking about his great knocks in the past with those who admired him…
One afternoon, In a boring accounts class……unaware that in a minute I was going to be hit by a huge wave of happiness….not knowing anything for that matter, I was sitting …as usual in the last row and probably chatting with mates beside me or scribbling something on the last page of my notebook and I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket…..I slowly took it out…hid it under the bag to check for the message….it was from a friend who hadn’t come to college that day….the message read “hey…Hyderabad IPL team signs Gilchrist and Symonds” ….I read that message over and over again and I could only see the words Hyderabad IPL team …Gilchrist….
I was obviously overjoyed….that message meant Gilchrist was going to play for Hyderabad…apna Hyderabad….it meant he was going to come here….it meant I was going to be in the same city ….the same city in which he was going to come and play for….I was more than excited and a couple of friends of mine who loved gilly were out of words and out of the world excited as well….
I was more than eagerly waiting for the tournament to kick start and more importantly watch Gilly play and hit every bowling attack all over the ground….
But to my disappointment …Gilly didn’t really live up to the expectation in the first three games …he opened in all three….he got to score a boundary or a six but couldn’t hold the momentum and got out cheaply in the process….
But I was still waiting for that 1 special innings where he would break all shackles and go all out against the bowlers and come back to his sparkling form of demoralizing the opposition bowling attack….I waited as patiently as I could…..
27th April 2008….Deccan Chargers v/s Mumbai Indians…. two teams which look mighty strong on paper but hadn’t won a single game from the 3 previous games they played…
This one was very important for both the teams …it was very important for them to win this game and get going from here on…
I was in some dilemma …as in which team to support….as Mumbai had Sachin tendulkar on its side, though he wasn’t playing..…and
But my heart went on to chant Gilly as he has been my all time favorite player and to most of my friends’ dislike I admire him more than I admire Sachin Tendulkar(sorry guys….But its Gilly above Sachin for me…)….
So….Deccan Chargers were chasing a total of 157 ….Gilly opened with Laxman…and what followed was some visual treat to the audience and many people like me sitting at home in front of T.V sets…
Gilly was at his best…knocking the ball all around the ground with ease….it was elegance at its best…
I feel happy on seeing him play the way he did last night….he has been a thorough entertainer as always and has given the team the perfect push to start charging….
Once again my dream would be to meet him…greet him…and let him know the 18 year old kid out here admires him like crazy and also thinks that he is one of the most underrated player in Cricket today…and he deserve more credit and acclaim than he is getting now…
I wish I could thank him for the way he has played…the way he is playing…and tell him that he sure has inspired many people out here watching him ….I wish I could tell him that behind the dedicated cricketer in him …there is a very very nice human being who has always been humble and down to earth and has inspired so many youngsters ….I wish I could meet him and say Thank you for everything….
****[P.S-The glaring spelling errors in the video are not mine...because the video itself is not mine...hehe...found it on Youtube...]****
