Squash ball does the trick for Gilly!

Former Australian wicket keeper-batsman was often coached by Bob Meuleman when he was at his home in Perth. Bob used to help Gilly improve his batting and give him some tips.Gilchrist has always been famous for doing something special or different in everytime. One can say that, he was taught to do common things in different ways, from a very young age. Bob was the man here to teach him so. Right from very small age, Bob had taught Gilly to bat using a squash ball inside the glove. Who knew that this tactic would certainly win Aussies their third world title?
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Adam Gilchrist was in a good form in the tournament, before the finals. He usually built a strong opening partnership along with his fellow mate, Hayden. Runs were coming from his willow but certainly a big score was missing, maybe a hundred?. An exquisite knock was yet to be witnessed.

He had to gift his nation the cup, and his coach the century. Gilly had decided to go with the same tactic of his childhood, using the squash ball, in the tournament. But who thought that it would be in the big final?

When Gilly told this to Bob, he certainly challenged and encouraged Gilly by saying :

'If you are going to use it, make sure when you score a hundred in the final you show me and prove to me you got it in there'.

Highlights from Gilly's innings:

In semi-finals when he went out to bat with the squash ball in his gloves, there was certainly a feeling of uneasiness inside the gloves but the advantage here was that, he got a very good grip because of it. However, this tactic didn’t work out as Gilly got dismissed very cheaply. “Might be it was the wrong time to try something different”, he must have thought, but that wasn’t the case. He didn’t give up, he wanted to prove it to Bob, and so he went out to bat in similar way in the all-important final.

Expectations were high, Aussies were fighting against Lankans to win the trophy for the third consecutive time. Everyone’s eyes were on Gilly and Hayden as they took the guard. Gilly had only one thing in mind, score big, Hayden and Gilchrist went very hard on the bowlers by playing some daring and powerful shots out of the ground. This was the time when Gilly was looking in a perfect shape to destroy Sri Lankan bowling attack and end the wait of everyone by scoring a century with a squash ball right inside his glove, also prove to Bob that, ‘he certainly did it’.

Yes, everyone’s wait was over when came off the helmet in pride. That wasn’t all for the celebration, as he raised his right hand and pointed towards squash ball. No one knew what it was for. But one man, Bob Meuleman knew, and would have been the happiest person. He had proved himself to Bob and even to the entire cricketing world. From there on, he went to to make 49 more runs, before he was dismissed. The awe-inspiring and promising innings had come to an end. Australia did win that match and certainly the World Cup was theirs for the 3^rd consecutive time.

There was nothing to be credited by Gilly for this innings, rather than the squash ball. Later, there were many controversies by the rejected Sri Lankans, regarding the use of a squash ball, but it was later declared as ‘legal’.

Till today, whenever Gilly is up for any interviews or masterclass, he is often asked to tell something about ‘the squash ball incident’. I am sure, Bob would be a proud man or a mentor indeed. He taught Gilchrist something that no one could have ever imagined of, and the way Gilly proved it, was really salient and owing.

One can say that we would have never been able to witness this prominent knock without the use of a squash ball. 

Wanna know the secret? why he used the squash ball? Here you go: