By IANS
Adelaide : With just a day left in the final Test, Australia will go all out to win the match against India in order to pay tribute to retiring wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist, said Michael Clarke after scoring his century on the fourth day here Sunday.
“I think it’s an ammunition for Gilly (Gilchrist) to go out with a win. He’s been an amazing part of the Australian team and we would like to win this last Test for him,” said Clarke, who scored 118 runs and along with skipper Ricky Ponting (140) stitched a valuable 210-run partnership for the fourth wicket to wrest the initiative from India.
Clarke lamented that Gilchrist’s absence would create a vacuum in the team and was hopeful the crowd would again see the talismanic Australian wicketkeeper come out to bat on the last day at the Adelaide Oval Monday.
“Obviously it’s a huge loss. The standing ovation, which the crowd did for Gilly, showed how much he is loved; how much he has helped change the game of cricket. He is a fantastic player and deserves all the respect he is getting now,” he said.
“Maybe, we can quickly bowl out India tomorrow and he might get another chance to do well with the bat,” he said.
Clarke went on to add that it would become difficult for India to score runs at a brisk rate on the last day as the ball will get soft and the wicket will also become slow.
“We have to bowl really, really well. Once the ball gets soft, it becomes really difficult to score runs. It could probably reverse swing as well. We definitely, if we can hold our chances, believe an opportunity exists to win this Test,” he said.
Clarke, however, disagreed with his teammate Matthew Hayden’s claim that the Indian bowlers adopted a negative tactics Saturday by bowling wide of the off-stump.
“As I said, once it becomes soft it becomes difficult to score. Spinners were trying to bowl in the rough to take advantage of the inconsistent bounce. As far as I’m concerned, they bowled fine,” he said.