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Up close with Gilly

Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

Behind the sheen Adam Gilchrist says it like it is

“I tried everything, even getting up from the wrong side of the bed,” Adam Gilchrist stated after the qualifying stages of the first Indian Premier League (IPL) last year. The Deccan Chargers had finished at the bottom of the heap. While his Royal Challengers counterpart Rahul Dravid heaved a sigh of relief for not being stuck with the wooden spoon, Gilchrist, an integral part of the awe-inspiring Australian squad that clinched three World Cup crowns, was humility personified, handling the ignominy of defeat with humour.

This time round, he’s been rated the most valued player (MVP) of the league, but very few would know that Gilchrist, so used to the winning habit, had his share of setbacks. Only that he shook them off to emerge stronger, with honesty and fair play for trusted companions. He takes pains, however, to rid himself of the squeaky clean image in his autobiography, True Colours.

His life-story is fascinating; he gets candid about his own failings, without being patronising about flaws in others. Absent is the arrogance so often attributed to the Australian juggernaut which for over a decade conquered every challenge that came its way. English cricket writer Henry Blofeld found Gilchrist the ‘pick of the bunch,’ on the tour of Old Blighty, while Harold ‘Dickie’ Bird, the revered umpire was certain the awesome Aussie was bound for glory. Need we say that their predictions proved prophetic?

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