I was lucky enough to be Gilchrist’s captain: Steve Waugh

Former Australia skipper Steve Waugh has picked Australia’s former wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist as his player of the century. Waugh, who called it quits shortly after the Sydney Test match against India in 2004 said that he was privileged to have captained a player like Adam Gilchrist during his time.

Steve Waugh also has had a well-documented rise in Australian cricket. Having made it to the side all those years ago in 1986, he has seen it all having been dropped on several occasions in favor of his twin brother Mark Waugh. However, having been made skipper following the retirement of Mark Taylor, Waugh was a front-seat witness to the transition of the Australian wicketkeeper.

When Waugh took over as skipper, Gilchrist was made the unanimous wicketkeeper-batsman following the retirement of then custodian Ian Healy.  Waugh also went as far as stating that Gilchrist was the player who had changed cricket the most. “I think the guy who’s changed the game the most you would have to say is Adam Gilchrist,” Waugh told cricket.com.au.

Waugh also added that he was ‘lucky enough’ to be the captain of the side when Adam Gilchrist was at his peak. “I was lucky enough to be his captain. He definitely changed how ‘keepers are perceived now and if you do that that means you’ve had a big impact on the game.

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Before he made his Test debut in 1999, Gilchrist was already a sensation opening the batting for Australia at the top of the order in ODIs. “He’s put a lot more pressure on ‘keepers because they’ve got to be great batsmen now so they probably all hate him. To do that is pretty incredible.”

Following his retirement from Australian cricket, Steve Waugh was perhaps one of the happiest people in the world to witness the fact that his legacy kept burning in the form of Ricky Ponting. The latter forged the Australian side into an unbeatable unit, something that Waugh instilled in the team he captained.

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