sanjeevmedia: Another Surprise in Store at SACA?

sanjeevmedia: Another Surprise in Store at SACA?: The pictures above are not identical but have some relevance and can be co-related.Both the pictures are taken at the indoor center of So...

Another Surprise in Store at SACA?

 

The pictures above are not identical but have some relevance and can be co-related.Both the pictures are taken at the indoor center of Southern Australia Cricket Association (SACA),Adelaide. And both are very historic ones. The left one is of Justice Hansen of Newzeland who was appointed as Judge to hear the infamous Bhajji-Symo case now known as 'Monkeygate'. In that press conference Justice Hansen took on the questions of restless media people who were working day-in day-out to get more and more stats of the scandal of the 2007-08 series. 

At the same venue and from the same platform one of the all time greatest wicket keeper-batsmen Adam Gilchrist announced his retirement from Test Cricket.I am one of the witnesses of both these historic press conferences which happened at the same venue and during the same series.

Now the caravan of India-Australia cricket is once again in Adelaide after four years and this time around there is nothing sort of Monkeygate in the store. So, there is no need of Justice Hansen again. But we all know that this time Indian cricket is not troubled from outside forces but they are in trouble water created by themselves. Some of the stalwarts are living on the edge.The Indian cricket supporters are asking for their heads.There is no doubt about this that these greats are under tremendous pressure.So,are we again going to see any surprise in SACA. Is the famous Press Conference stage of SACA going to witness any historic announcement again? Well only time will tell but most likely the answer is no.There are two reasons for that. One,there is not any Australian cricketer biggie under any sort of pressure this time around and as far as our Stalwarts are concerned they are not Gilchrist and two,our biggies are larger than life and its not that easy to hang them just because they have not scored runs or taken wickets in a 'few' matches.

Of course Gilly was or is not a saint. But, he must be praised for what he did at that point of time.It can be recalled that Gilly had dropped a simple chance in the Adelaide test and he was upset on dropping one of the most simplest of catches. He thought that this is the time to hang his boots and clear the way for youngsters waiting in the wings.

I still vividly remember Gilly's family was present at that press conference and watched him say goodbye. Gilchrist choked up when thanking his wife and children for sticking by him. Would you believe that Gilly had come to his decision because he had dropped a simple catch of non other than VVS Laxman, who is in the most danger zone of his career at present. I still remember Laxman was on 37 and Gilly dropped a sitter off Brett Lee.The ball was outside the off stump and Laxman chased that one.A thick edge flew to Gilly on very comfortable height but he dropped it after taking it in his gloves. The crowd booed!! Gilly agonizingly looked up at the replay on the big screen of Adelaide Oval. Aussies or Gilly did not pay a huge price for that mistake. Laxman was out after adding 14 more runs in his tally and he was caught by Gilly off Lee. 

Later on Gilchrist admitted in his goodbye press conference,"It made me realize in the ensuing 10 or 15 minutes that that's it".He added. "I'm not moving quite as well as I have, not just on the field but in training and my fitness. I just realized I didn't have the absolute desperation that you need to continue to maintain your standards."

Gilchrist's wicket-keeping had slipped during that series and he was unable to live-up to his own expectations, "I don't think anyone in this room has missed the fact that I did miss a few chances this series," he said. "It was bugging me and I couldn't understand why."  When he announced his retirement he was playing his 96th test match. He could have easily asked for four more from the selectors to make it a century of test matches in his career. But, everything changed with the sound of a ball bouncing out from two gloves.Remember he was not asked by the Cricket Australia neither any selector had motivated him to take the toughest of decisions of his career. To add on to all these he was not 38 or 39. Not even 37 years old. He was simply 36. But he was wise.