By IANS
Adelaide : Former Australian coach John Buchanan said that wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist’s decision to retire has taken him by “surprise”, adding that Gilchrist’s absence would be felt deeply than that of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, the media reported here Sunday.
Buchanan revealed that Gilchrist had called him after the third day’s Saturday play to tell him about his decision.
“The decision did surprise me, but it was his personal one. He was a close friend and I admired him as a person, as a cricketer and as a father. His contribution to Australian and world cricket was incredible,” Buchanan was quoted as saying by the Age.
“He set benchmarks for wicketkeeper-batsmen and in general to cricketers. He could change games with a drop of a hat in any form of the game. His character as a person, his contribution to the captain and the team culture exceeded his contributions on the field. Possibly his loss is more than even Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath,” he added.
On Friday, Gilchrist had surpassed South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher’s world record for most number of Test dismissals, taking his tally of dismissals to 414 in 94 tests.