His aggressive batting, his acrobatic wicket-keeping skills, and his down-to-earth nature have earned him fans all over the world. Adam Gilchrist, who remains one of the favourite sporting icons, opens up on several topics including travel, food, lifestyle, and banter with Indian cricketers. “Travel is a wonderful by-product of cricket. In that sense, I am really lucky!” says Gilchrist, adding, “Most of my travel has come through my cricketing career. I have got to visit several countries and explored new cultures, fashion, clothing and food.”
Sharing with us his experience as a tourist in India, he says, “I like Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi. Dharamsala is also close to my heart for its mountains and small villages.” He adds, “I am a fan of Indian cuisine too. Butter chicken is on top of my priority list!” Gilly also hopes that he gets to travel across Tamil Nadu like his friend Matthew Hayden did recently. “I messaged Hayden about it, because we both love Indian food. So after seeing him enjoy the local culture, I would like to go on a similar trip too.”
The 44-year-old still savours memories of banter with his Indian cricketing counterparts. Reminiscing over one funny incident involving him and Virender Sehwag, Gilly says, “In one of the matches we played, all the famous players had gone back to the pavilion. Only Viru was left. So, to get him off his game, I shouted, ‘All pressure is on you Viru, don’t get nervous!’ He then turned towards me and said, ‘Nervous? I never get it’ and started scoring boundaries!”
Who are his current favourite cricketers? “Like everyone, I am a fan of Virat Kohli. He is also leading the team very well. I follow AB De Villiers and David Warner too,” he quips. On a concluding note, when we ask Gilchrist if he’d ever take to acting like Brett Lee has — he grins and replies, “No, I think I would have to leave that to Brett! I think he did a good job in UnIndian. But, never say never, eh? We don’t know what is there in store for us!”
