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'I'll come in the 2011 World Cup'
It was an eventful series for Australia in India. Even though the hosts managed to pull back two games, the Aussies thoroughly outplayed India in the seven-match One-Day series.
The Australian vice-captain Adam Gilchrist spoke exclusively to CNN IBN Sports Editor Gaurav Kalra after the series.
Gaurav Kalra: Whenever we put together all time dream team - Don Bradman always seems to make it and so is Gary Sobers. And there is one other man, who always seems to make it is whenever the experts talk about it and that person is Adam Gilchrist. He will bat at number seven in any dream team and keep wickets. You will make that dream team. Won't you?
Adam Gilchrist: I think I am dreaming if I want to get into that team. But who knows? It is always a good argument, isn't it? It is always good to work out who your favourite players are and who the best are from various years but I am happy for people to keep the discussion going but I want to stay out of it.
Gaurav Kalra: Ok, you stay out of it but you will be in that dream team. Now, I want to begin this entire thing by talking to you about what has just happened in India - you just won a series yet again. You have come back here and done well again. Overall, what is your opinion on you having come back here and having done so well in this series in India, after all that happened at that Twenty20 World Championship.
Adam Gilchrist: Any team that comes to the sub-continent, they chase a victory in a series and they want to get the result but what we do know is, we really worked hard. It is a tough place to come and play cricket but it is always a challenging place, it is really good fun. So, to come here and win a series in any instance is very pleasing but to do it after that hype of twenty20 competition is great.
And indeed it is good the way India took to the twenty20 format but then it was only magnified and exaggerated even more by the fact that India won and deservingly won that tournament.
But the fact that we lost to India in that tournament, probably helped build everything up for this series that we came and played in this One-Day format. It was strong effort by our guys because India really had some momentum coming out of that tournament in South Africa.
Gaurav Kalra: One of your colleagues - Andrew Symonds has described this as the most hostile series he has played in India and that is the sentiment that seemed to have swept through the media debate that has happened here. Do you also share that sentiment? Has there been a lot of hostility on the field?
Adam Gilchrist: Andrew was involved in a pretty well documented in the run of events that has been alleged - racial abuse from the crowd and that is it. But that is a different issue compared to that of the on-field rivalry or some of the on field chats between players.
There was some very aggressive cricket played and some very aggressive body language, which I think was spilled over from the Twenty20 World Cup where India played that way. They wanted to stamp their authority or create their presence and they did that and they backed it up with some great cricket during (twenty20 World Championship). So, I guess we saw that as a bit of a challenge. We wanted to make sure that we don't sit back and be threatened with that. So, when two teams are going so hard and are trying to create that impression on each other then you have few sparks around and that makes for a pretty hostile environment.
Gaurav Kalra: Have you seen a new Team India in the sense? You have played a lot against India in your career, over a decade you have played a lot against them - One-Day cricket, Test cricket. Now, there are a lot of younger guys. Have you noticed that the way they play their cricket is different?
Adam Gilchrist: I haven't seen a distinct change in their style of cricket but I mentioned about the aggressive body language and the fact that they were not backing out from the confrontation. I think we have seen that over the last 10 years that we have been playing India.
There are new players coming and they all want to make an impression. But whether it is the Indian team, the new players or the Australian team or any team from around the world, I think whenever we get down to play cricket, that is when we all allow ourselves the opportunity to perform the best and the skills come through at the highest level, when you are focusing on that and not the verbal exchanges and the hostile sort of an activity.
And I think that is true with the Indian team as well. The younger guys they may not realise it now but they will feel that aggression is what makes them play well but over the time you learn that there are moments to be aggressive but then there are times when you will have to just be calm and do the hard work.
Gaurav Kalra: One direction that India are now heading is Australia at the end of this year. Is it going to be an interesting series in India and it is going to be watched by a lot of people but from a point of view of a player as well, when you started out your Test career, India was one of your first opponents. You must be really looking forward to this series because even the Australian public love watching India play?
Adam Gilchrist: I think India are a popular team , everywhere they go - the world over. There is no other reason but there are so many Indians all around the world, who want to come out and see their home or maybe former home team playing. And it is great. It creates a great atmosphere and a great challenge.
For more cricket specific view, the last time they toured Australia in a Test series, they drew 1-1 and that is the only home series that I haven't won, except for another against New Zealand, where we had a few wash-outs. So, that says that they performed very very well on that tour and they have still got, I think, the heartbeat of that team and so they will be very keen to draw in that experience and now that they also have got this new brigade. So, looking forward to that. It will be a great challenge and there will always be an interest anytime whenever an Indian team is playing cricket.
Gaurav Kalra: You mentioned the heartbeat of the Indian team but there would be some who would argue that the heartbeat of the Australian team would be missing as there would be no Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath this time. So, maybe, India will have a chance because the bowling that the Australians will put out is not of that same calibre, though it is still very good but perhaps you will miss those guys while keeping behind the stumps?
Adam Gilchrist: Only time will tell. I think we can all say that we know that we are going to miss Warne and McGrath from a bowling aspect. We are missing two fantastic batsmen in Justine Langer and Damien Martyn as well but I think the focus is more on the bowling. We know that we are going to miss those guys but only time will tell whether we miss them so much that can't win games any more or we can't still be No. 1 in Test cricket.
We believe that we definitely have got the depth and we have nurtured some players through, along with McGrath and Warne, so that they have learnt from them and now they are ready to show those skills that they have picked up from those two great players.
Gaurav Kalra: I want to ask you one other thing from the upcoming series - this is probably the last time the Australian crowd will see Sachin Tendulkar in action.
Has the Tendulkar aura has a little bit diminished in the Australian public and players' mind. Is he a different player or is he acknowledged at the same level?
Adam Gilchrist: I think, he will always be considered one of, if not the best players to have played the game. And that is undoubtedly there. The quality that you see in a real champion players is longevity, because if you have been there that longer then that means that you have produced something that is wanted in sustaining you at that level. And I think, Sachin is very mush there. And the Australian crowd knows that and appreciates that. So, he will attract a huge amount of attention.
Gaurav Kalra: And among the players?
Adam Gilchrist: Among the players, he is still a prized wicket for any bowler and we are still a very happy team to see him walking off having being dismissed.
Gaurav Kalra: There is a lot of talk about this Australian team being the best team to play in the history of game. Do you get that feeling having been a part of this team and having watched the West Indies team in the 80s.under Clive Lyod and Viv Richards, what are your views on this?
Adam Gilchrist: I grew up watching that team in the West Indian era. I guess it was different. I think they had a different brand of cricket. I think that’s the toughest thing about comparing teams from different eras, the style and the pace of the game and the brand of cricket you play differs, the conditions, the lineup, they had the pace battery, which was ruthless, we had the subtleties of Warne and Mcgrath, a pace bowler but not that absolute run-in and frighten batsmen out with pace and fear, more of guile and skill, not that the west Indians weren’t skillful. So different styles of cricket but I said I grew up watching them, demoralize the world over in cricket, so that will always be in my mind one of the greatest teams.
Gaurav Kalra: Would they have beaten you?
Adam Gilchrist: I don’t know, depends on where we play them I suppose. If we had them on a spinning fifth day wicket in Sydney, we will back Warney. On a grassy West Indian wicket, they probably will think they are favourites but I think we would have been a very successful team. We have pretty won everything that has been put in front of us. There is not much else we could have done in this era, does that mean we would have won 20 years ago, I don’t know.
Gaurav Kalra: I would have liked to see that game, that’s for sure. But there is one thing that is sure that how the perception of the wicket-keeper-batsman changed with the emergence of Adam Gilchrist. Do you agree to that view.
Adam Gilchrist: I don’t think I changed anything. I think the role has evolved through a number of things. Primarily, one-day cricket can take a lot of credit for this, it can be explained as one of the reasons for the wicket-keeper-batsman or formerly what was just wicket-keeper, now has become more of batsman-wicket-keeper. And who knows Twenty20 cricket might eliminate the wicket-keeper part totally.
Gaurav Kalra: Not if they can find Adam Gilchrist.
Adam Gilchrist: Hopefully, as a wicket-keeper you would like to believe as a wicket-keeper you are being selected on your wicket-keeping skills. Primarily that’s the way I have always approached my career that I’m a wicket-keeper first and then the batting weather it is brilliant or not so good is something which comes me with it.
Gaurav Kalra: It is slightly a modest thing to say given that you have nearly 15000 runs, 32 international hundreds. I know you are not a big stats guy but these are not the numbers wicket-keepers have racked up in the past. Even in to most Test teams as a batsman.
Adam Gilchrist: I didn’t expect to have one Test century but to have a few is nice. I think one thing I’ll leave behind is raise the standard of what’s expected of that role, I think that will be pleasant sort of thing to have said.
Gaurav Kalra: You talked about the culture of a team, that’s one thing which is talked about a lot in India that there is a lot of focus on the individual. Can you throw some light on how the Australians approach cricket?
Adam Gilchrist: Undoubtedly our focus is team, no doubt about it.
Gaurav Kalra: Is that the culture you grow up with?
Adam Gilchrist: Absolutely. It’s not drilled into us, it’s just a part of our culture, it’s a very Australian term, it’s called ‘helping out a mate,’ we draw a lot on our history and heritage, we draw a lot on our country, our soldiers going to war and some of the battles being the underdog and just sticking together and focus and fighting together and doing whatever it takes as a team.
And I must say in, my period so far, I find many highlights and what I find a real inspiration is being a part of a group, sitting together and planning to do something, you know getting ideas from every one, planning to do something and then executing those plans and achieving the desired result, that is playing sport and being part of any group really, weather it’s sport or in a business sense, whatever group you are involved in to achieve the result together and then celebrate together and enjoy that. And we do celebrate as well.
So for me that’s what it is all about being a part of the team and in achieving those results seeing weather there have been any individual success and celebrating that success as well is also a huge part of our culture is too.
Gaurav Kalra: When you see the young guys in your team does that fill you with the kind of confidence that the Australians will continue to dominate world cricket as well as they have once you hand it over to these guys?
Adam Gilchrist: I think I do. That is another thing we are proud of that the handing over of the baton from generation to generation, we take a lot of pride in making sure that it is a smooth transition.
I think it is probably happening at the moment with most of that golden era is gone and I’m personally enjoying being a part of the transition period and Matty Hayden and me are the two-standout guys who are probably closer to the end than the beginning. So we are enjoying being a part of the transition an d walk away and leave it in a healthy state and I think talent wise we have got a number of young players who will be up to that standard.
Gaurav Kalra: Before the World Cup, there was a lot of talk about Adam Gilchrist saying goodbye to it all. Is that something that’s starting to cross your mind, I know you are playing as well as you ever have, but is retirement starting to become more of something you think about a lot more, discuss with your family, your kids want you home a lot more?
Adam Gilchrist: I must be close, because a lot of people are asking me questions about it, so I must be very close. I must admit leading into the World Cup (in the West Indies), I probably had that as a landmark that I wanted to achieve, and maybe leading into that, I got a bit too focussed on that, and I don’t think I was playing with the freedom I have always played with. And it became a sort of a Holy Grail I wanted to get to. I got there, obviously it’s nice to finish on a World Cup like that, on the biggest stage.
But we had a good break after that, four months off, and it was really refreshing to get away from it, and realise that, I don’t know, the Warnes and the McGraths retired and they said, ‘Yes, now is the time. I knew it was the time’. It had me asking questions, and I realised that something said ‘no, it’s not the time’.
Gaurav Kalra: Why I asked you the World Cup probably was it will be a good time to go after the 2011 World Cup final where you will play another swashbuckling innings. Because every time a World Cup final comes around, you always get runs. This time you got a hundred and in the last two, you got half-centuries as well. So, it just about seems right, come to India, play a World Cup final and finish it off like that.
Adam Gilchrist: It sounds great, a lot of script that you have written there, I’m not sure if my knees and legs are going to hold up for another four years. But all my family, I have got a young family now, so that obviously comes into the equation. But I dare say that I will be here in 2011, whether it’s in a playing capacity or to just coming to watch and embracing everything that that tournament will bring to the world of cricket. Without doubt, I look forward to post-cricket, visiting their shores very regularly, because as I say, it’s a fascinating place to come to.
Gaurav Kalra: Brett Lee likes playing the guitar, I think Ricky Ponting is into greyhound racing or something of this kind. What are you into?
Adam Gilchrist: In most recent times, my family. As I say a young family, with children ranging from five-and-half to six months. So, that keeps us busy, and we are away so much that we always want to utilise that time with them.
Aside from that, take for example an involvement with Castrol. I have been involved with them for about four years in Australia, but a couple of years now on a global scale. That to me is really interesting. It’s nice to be termed a ‘brand ambassador’ and be promoting them, but that brand in particular is a market leader around the world. I see similarities there between the Australian cricket team and us.
Gaurav Kalra: You obviously use it in your cars as well, are you a big, very fast driver, or you go at break-neck speed you’d expect someone like a Brett Lee to do?
Adam Gilchrist: Contrary to my batting, I’m a little slow poke behind the wheel with my kids onboard now but definitely using that product. It’s been a great experience and I have filmed one of the greatest ads ever up in Kolkata with Castrol with the Magnatec product with one of the old beat-up taxis you see running around, I think Magnatec even got one of those going eventually. That was very pleasing.
Gaurav Kalra: So you are not getting into say an Indian movie or something like that what Brett Lee is trying to do?
Adam Gilchrist: I’ll leave that to Brett Lee, and I’ll leave the singing to him as well. We are all singers deep down but I just choose not to do it in public.
Gaurav Kalra: If there was one person that you would say your favourite cricketer, the person you admire the most or look up to the most, who would that be?
Adam Gilchrist: That’s a tough question. I think as far as having handled fame, and fortune and everything that that brings, and probably has been under the most intense scrutiny for their whole life, is probably Sachin Tendulkar.
I think he has been a real torchbearer on how to handle it, how to cope under that pressure. I’m not sure how he’s done it, but he has been phenomenal over the years. There has been some amazing cricketers who have had issues elsewhere or haven’t been able to handle or cope with everything while being an absolute genius. I think he has been a great example to many cricketers.
Gaurav Kalra: you used ‘amazing cricketer’ and ‘genius’, and all of those words go with you. Adam Gilchrist, thank you very much.
Adam Gilchrist: Thanks mate.
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