On This Day: Destructive Australian keeper-batter Adam Gilchrist was born

On this day is the birthday of Australian cricket legend Adam Gilchrist, whose style of batting was ahead of the time. Gilchrist was among the first few batters who showed how to rotate run rate swiftly, maintaining the copybook techniques.

When Ian Healy retired, many might have thought that the Australian cricket team had to play with a weak point. But Gilchrist, a keeper-batter, proved everyone wrong and became one of the key parts of Steve Waugh's revolutionary Aussie eleven.

The New South Wales-born player played 96 Tests with the baggy green camp to score a total of 5570 runs at an average of 47.60. In the Whites, the attacking top-order batter recorded 26 half centuries and 17 centuries. During the thrilling encounter against South Africa in 2001-02, Gilchrist smashed 204 not out off only 213 balls in Johannesburg. Due to his fearless batting approach, he achieved the record holder for the fourth fastest Test century and was the first player to hit 100 Test sixes.

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Batting stats of Adam Gilchrist

One of his memorable batting performances was against India in Mumbai. With the help of Gilchrist's quick-fire 122-run innings, Australia easily outplayed the home team. During the innings, the batter completed the hundred only against 84 deliveries. After retiring from Test cricket during the 2007-08 season, Gilchrist joined the Indian Premier League club Deccan Chargers and guided them to glory in 2009. In the One Day International format, he played 287 matches and scored 9619 runs at an average of 35.89. In this format, he smashed 55 fifties and 16 hundreds, including the highest score of 172.

Gilchrist participated in few T20Is as well. In 13 Twenty20 games, the southpaw gathered 272 runs at an batting average of 22.66.