Gilchrist: there's more to life than cricket

By John Cheeran
In the beginning was Adam. And Gilchrist knew how to end it all.
I consider myself an expert in quitting and still I have to salute the Aussie’s courage and timing to go.
Gilchrist was the most exciting cricketer of the modern times, and in that he has even surpassed the Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar. In being an exciting player that is.
There was none to match him for the boldness of his strokes, may be Sanath Jayasuriya coming quite close to him. But Gilchrist had an unrelenting double role to perform, that of a wicketkeeper’s.
Keeping wickets in cricket is something similar to editing and much as they take sub editors for granted, keepers are taken for granted. To be lauded, to be acknowledged you have to do something more.
In fact in cricket it is simpler than journalism. In its equality, cricket offers everyone a chance to bat. And it is this chance that Gilchrist grabbed with both hands, and sometimes with the aid of squash ball, to clobber the bowlers.
Gilchrist’s biggest contribution as a wicketkeeper-batsman is not that during the Adelaide Test he established the world record for the most number of dismissals by a keeper in Tests.
I salute Gilchrist’s courage to tell himself that there is more to life than cricket. And it is no wonder that quite often he walked, when he believed he is out, without waiting for the umpire’s finger to go up.Definitely, cricket will miss Gilchrist.