Legendary Australia wicketkeeper batter Adam Gilchrist, 16 years after his retirement from international cricket, revealed how he realized it was time for him to hang up his boots from Test cricket.
Gilchrist appeared in the Club Prairie Fire Podcast and shared how a dropped catch resulted in him calling time on his glittering Test career.
India were on an all-format tour to Australia in 2008 and according to Gilchrist, who was close to the 100-Test landmark, dropped a straight-forward catch of VVS Laxman.
The former wicketkeeper batter shared that he watched the replay of the dropped catch on the big screen and had immediately told Matthew Hayden that he was done.
“Funny thing happened when India were in Australia the last time I played against them. I attempted to take a catch off the outside edge of VVS Laxman, dropped it, an absolute soda, as simple as it gets.
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“The ball hit the ground and I looked at the replay on the big screen, looked at it again and again and again and it went probably 32 times.
“I turned to Matthew Hayden and said I’m done, I’m out. From the ball hitting the glove to the ball hitting the grass, in an instant, I realized it was time to retire.
“Don’t worry about the tour of the West Indies, don’t worry about the 100th Test in India, that was the decision made for me to give up Test cricket.”
Adam Gilchrist played 96 Tests for Australia in his glittering career, which began in 1999, and accumulated 5570 runs at a brilliant average of 47.60 with the help of 17 centuries and 27 fifties.
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