Adam Gilchrist: A Match Winner Quiz

Answer: 14 November

Adam Craig Gilchrist was born on November 14, 1971 in Bellingen, New South Wales, Australia. Today his residence is Perth, Western Australia.

Answer: Pakistan

On 5 November 1999, Gilchrist made his Test debut against Pakistan. He made his ODI debut on 25 October 1996 against South Africa. He was ready to take a long expedition of cricket, which was about to last for years.

Answer: 100

He scored this against South Africa in January 1998, and this century was a match winning one. He was also awarded the man of the match.

Answer: South Africa

Gilchrist was also there in the squad. His only contribution was in the semi-final that against New Zealand, he smashed a fast 42 off 36 not out, smashing 3 sixes.

Answer: 57 off 48

A quickfire 57 along with Ricky Ponting's 140 no, led the Aussies to score 359/2 in the final. India, at the end, had a crushing defeat by 125 runs where Virender Sehwag contributed with his 82.

Answer: 149 (104)

This was the highest score by any batsman in a World Cup Final but Gilchrist failed by 1 run to make his 150. He broke the record of fellow teammate Ricky Ponting, who made 140 runs in the 2003 World Cup Final. Gilchrist's contribution once again made Australia the Champions of the World the third successive time.

Answer: 204

He scored this against South Africa in February 2002. Once again, the team won, and Gilchrist received the Man of the match.

Answer: MS Dhoni

This made history. MS Dhoni, at Jaipur in October-November 2005, did this miracle. He was promoted to no. 3 spot as Sri Lanka had set a target of 299 and MS Dhoni single handedly with his 183*, won the match for India. This score was the highest score ever by a wicketkeeper, breaking Gilchrist's record of 172 against Zimbabwe.

Answer: Deccan Chargers

He was truly a match winner. Though the team failed to win in IPL 2008, Gilchrist made the Fastest 100(in just 42 balls!) by an IPL batsman against Mumbai Indians in 2008. Chargers had won the match. In 2009, when the IPL shifted to South Africa, he was made Captain of the team. Chargers had a strong start by winning their first four matches but then started to struggle. Even after all this, Chargers managed to go to the Semis, and that was where Gilchrist proved himself a match winner.

He made a record of making the fastest 50 by an IPL batsman against the strongest Round Robin team Delhi Daredevils, off just 21 balls.

He went on to make 85 off 35 balls. In the final against Royal Challengers Bangalore, though he was out for a duck, Chargers managed to win it by 6 runs. Gilchrist was named Player of the Tournament.

He today has 931 runs aggregate in IPL but in the Airtel Champions League T20 in 2009, he failed once again in their home ground(Hyderabad), where Chargers lost all their 9 matches.

Answer: 2008

On India's Republic Day(January 26th)in 2008, during the final test in Australia, Gilchrist announced his retirement from Test Cricket after this very match. As Ricky Ponting was off the field because of a back injury, Gilchrist was to captain his side for the last two days of his career. Gilchrist played his last test innings and scored 14. The match eventually turned out to be a draw and thus, this was the end of Adam Gilchrist's test career. His final catch no.379 was of Virender Sehwag. He scored just a 150 runs in his last test series.

He announced his retirement from ODIs after the Commonwealth Bank Series, 2008. From now, wherever he played his last ODIs, he was given a big farewell. His contribution in this series was on 15 February 2008 in his hometown Perth, where he scored 118 against Sri Lanka, and hence, this was his last ODI at Perth. Gilchrist was shattered in the Finals, scoring just 7 and 2 respectively. India beat Australia 2-0 in the Commonwealth Bank Finals. So on 4 March 2009, Gilchrist played his last ODI, and hence, his last international match.

He later revealed that the reason for his retirement was in the first innings of the last test on 26 January 2008, because he had dropped a VVS Laxman catch and he thought that he had lost his competitive edge and hence announced his retirement.

Gilchrist has still played in the IPL 2008 & 2009. He today lives in Perth. He was a really a legend to watch out for!