“I was nervous…”: Gilchrist on emotions ahead of captaining Australia to 2004 Test series win in India

Melbourne [Australia], October 29 (ANI): Former Australian wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist on Tuesday recalled being nervous on getting the captaincy during the tour of India in 2004-05, during which Aussies made history and secured their first series win on Indian soil.

On the occasion of 20th anniversary of Australia’s famous and only series win in India back in the 2004-05 season, Gilchrist was speaking on the ‘Stories After Stumps’ programme.

While speaking in a video posted by cricket.com.au, Gilchrist said that when he was in panic when skipper Ricky Ponting injured himself in the ICC Champions Trophy 2004 ahead of the series and was ruled out of the first three Tests of the four-match series.

“I was absolutely in a panic from the moment I saw we were playing, I think in the Champions Trophy in the UK we at Edgbaston and Punter took a ball on the thumb and he never left the field. So it did not matter how bad an injury he was. he stayed out there as a tough little fellow but he went off and then did not come back out and we realized that one, he is out of that tournament and two, unlikely, if it (thumb) is broken that he will be able to go to India certainly at the start,” recalled Gilchrist.

Gilchrist said that he was nervous and pretty uncertain about going back to India thanks to some bad memories of the 2001 tour, which India had won 2-1. Gilchrist started that tour on a strong note with a century in Mumbai, but got dismissed for duck twice at Eden Gardens in Kolkata and for one in each innings during the Bengaluru Test.

“So I was starting to get nervous straight away mainly because memories from the 2001 tour which was just an epic series, one of the great Test match series and for me personally I went from the highest of highs scoring 100 in the first Test of that one series but then closing out the series with well, a king pair, at the Eden Gardens and then another pair of ones in the last test. So I was mentally I was a bit scarred from the back end of that tour. So was I ready to go back there in general? I was not sure and then to have the captain’s armband on. I was even less certain,” he added.

Gilchrist’s men pulled off the job of handing India a rare home series loss. In the third decisive Test at Nagpur, a brilliant batting performance from Damian Martyn (114 and 97) helped Australia give a target of 543 to India. India was bundled out for just 200 runs, with Jason Gillespie getting a four-wicket haul. India lost the series 1-2 and till this day, it remains their only home series loss to Australia. Gilchrist also ended up having a much better series, scoring 218 runs in four Tests at an average of 31.18, with one century, a knock of 104 in the first Bengaluru Test which India lost by 217 runs,

Now, this year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy will start from November 22 onwards with first Test at Perth.

The second Test, scheduled for December 6 to 10 at Adelaide Oval, will feature the exciting day-night format under the stadium’s lights. After that, fans will turn their attention to The Gabba in Brisbane for the third Test, which will be held from December 14 to 18.

The customary Boxing Day Test, set for December 26 to 30 at Melbourne’s storied Melbourne Cricket Ground, will bring the series to its penultimate stage.

The fifth and final Test, to take place at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 3 to 7, will serve as the series climax, promising a dramatic conclusion to an exciting contest.

India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.