Mumbai: Former Australian wicket-keeper and skipper of the Deccan Chargers, Adam Gilchrist, is concerned about too much cricket being played, saying that cricket, as a sport, is very close to a saturation point and the issue of overkill needs to be addressed immediately.

“Perhaps, we are getting very close to that critical point [of too much cricket]. I’ve got no doubt that the administrators are aware of that and are doing their best to alter the situation,” Gilchrist told the Telegraph. 

“We don’t want inconsequential games. We need to try and create identities. It would be great if every country had an iconic series, like the Ashes. Test cricket can survive, with Twenty20 being used to attract new people to the game. I think there’s room for all three formats and I also believe that Twenty20 is definitely an extremely powerful tool. The key, really, is the volume of cricket. We are close to saturation point and that’s what is going to remove the interest in the game. If we can make it better, people will get the calendar and go wow,” he said.

Gilchrist has been responsible for revolutionising the role of a wicket-keeper in cricket and he believes that the emergence of wicket-keepers, who contribute significantly with the bat, has not come at the cost of their skills behind the stumps. “When people say that [the trend is for wicket-keeper-batsmen], does it mean they do not rate other wicket-keepers who’re out there, for their keeping? Is that a statement saying that the standard of wicket-keeping has deteriorated over the years? I can’t comment on that, I don’t know,” said Gilchrist.

“I remember Rod Marsh and Ian Healy – they’re the guys that I grew up watching, my idols, my heroes. All we try to do, as wicket-keepers, is to do the best job we can. And, again, when we get the bat in our hand, that’s what we try to do. There’s definitely an expectation that you have to be a greater contributor with the bat in this day and age than 20 or 30 years ago,” Gilchrist said.

Gilchrist, who is considered one of the best wicket-keeper batsmen ever to have played the game, was full of praise for South African wicket-keeper Mark Boucher who tops the all-time list of wicket-keepers, with 494 Test dismissals to his name. “I’m thrilled to see him hold that record because he has been around for 13 years. We all talk about Sachin Tendulkar and his 20 years in the game, but here’s a wicket-keeper who has put in over a dozen years and done his job over and over again, almost in an unrecognised manner. All credit to Mark,” he said.

Gilchrist acknowledged that batsmen like Virender Sehwag and Matthew Hayden have changed the approach to opening the batting in test cricket. “Virender has been phenomenal. Matthew Hayden, too, changed the mindset that the first session of a Test didn’t have to be all about survival. Those two hours could be about total domination and setting the flow of the game your way. I’d pick both guys. Both spent some time out of the team and came back, clear in their minds that they wanted to play in a certain way. They may have missed out on the odd occasion, but stayed focused,” Gilchrist said.

Gilchrist also felt that Sachin Tendulkar has changed his batting style over the years. “Back then [in 1996 when Gilchrist first played against Tendulkar], Sachin would play in a very dominating manner, could really be deemed to have been at the height of his powers. In the years after that, he has been evolving in a different kind of role. I guess maybe not even consciously doing it. Maybe, it’s because of being who he is and the expectations on him. Rahul Dravid and the others in the core group have also contributed so well… Sachin has always had the determination and the hunger, but there appears to have been some sort of rejuvenation over the last 12 months or so,” he said.

Talking about his IPL franchise, Deccan Chargers, who finished at the bottom of the IPL table in 2008, and then came back strongly to win the tournament in the second edition, Gilchrist said that creating a unique culture within the side was crucial for the transformation. “There are a lot of finer details. However, generally speaking, we’d spent a lot of time in the first IPL talking about the appreciation of the different cultures in our dressing room. There were seven nationalities and [we wanted] to appreciate each other’s cultures. We spent too much time on that without realising that we had to create our own culture, a Deccan Chargers’ culture,” he said.

“It’s hard to necessarily put it down in words or to describe it, but it’s there within the group. You know it, you can feel it. It is creating an atmosphere everyone wants to be a part of, everyone wants to buy into. So that’s an example of one part of the Deccan Chargers’ culture. You need total commitment. That is how you go about preparing to play decent cricket,” Gilchrist said.

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