Thunderstruck

There’s nothing much to say about this game except that when Adam Gilchrist hits something, it stays hit.

Gilchrist raising his bat after reaching his century; Image Source: indiatvnews.com

The HPCA Stadium of Dharamsala is one of the most serene grounds built anywhere all over the world. It is also ground with one of the highest altitudes of any in the world. As a result rain, thunder and lightning are frequent sights.

You just never know when a game will get washed out. So when the players do get a game here, it’s important that the players make the most of it. On a day that can be considered a relatively dry one for the place, Adam Gilchrist made sixes and fours rain all over the place.

Punjab’s match against Royal Challengers Bangalore was a completely one-sided affair. After the carnage unleashed by Australian duo Gilchrist and Marsh, any hopes that RCB had were wiped out as Gilchrist put the last nail in their coffin with an incredible catch to get rid of Gayle early.

The game wasn’t about the two teams as much as it was about Adam Gilchrist. For any wicketkeeper-batsman growing up in the 90s and the 00s, he was the pinnacle of what it meant to be one.

Dare we say, he redefined the role of a wicketkeeper in an XI. Earlier, all a keeper was good for was behind the stumps. In front of them, they were just deadwood in the batting order. The southpaw changed that for good. Now every team looks for a talented gloveman who doubles us as a swashbuckling batsman.

In 2011, Gilchrist was in the twilight of his career. At this point, it had started to look like he had given everything he had to cricket already and there was nothing left. After an average season with the Deccan Chargers in 2010, he hadn’t even been retained by them.

Yet the Kings XI Punjab gambled on him and his experience. Frankly, they could’ve done with a player as distinguished as him in their ranks. Although the gamble didn’t pay off as they would’ve hoped it would, his incredible century versus RCB did show why they bet on him.

He began precariously, giving the young Valthaty the go-ahead to smash as much as he wants to. Up till the seventh over, he was trodding along like a sloth. It looked like his season would be remembered for being a monumental failure.

On the second ball of the seventh over, Mithun banged one short and Gilly pounced on it like a tiger. He had just hit his 100th T20 six. Overcome by the nostalgia of his days of glory, he decided to turn the clock back.

He pulled and cut and drove the ball all over the place. The highlight of his innings came against Charl Langeveldt in the 10th over- three consecutive sixes out of which, the second one was 122 metres long and left RCB captain Kohli with no option but to admire.

Gilchrist reached his fifty with those three sixes powered his way to 56 more and bring up a vintage century. His whirlwind innings vs Sri Lanka in the 2007 World Cup final proved that on his day, there was nobody more deadly than him. These innings proved that he had still got it. There was and there will be nobody like him.