Tributes poured in for Australia's Adam Gilchrist on Sunday following his shock decision to retire from international cricket at the end of the summer.
- India, Oz resume verbal battle
Politicians, players and commentators hailed Gilchrist as the greatest wicketkeeper-batsmen to play the game. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he tried to convince Gilchrist to change his mind.
"As his prime minister (I) said, 'Gilly you need to reconsider,' and he told me he wasn't," Rudd told reporters in Canberra on Sunday.
Former Australia coach John Buchanan said Gilchrist revolutionised the role of wicketkeepers through his explosive lower-order batting.
"By what he has done, everybody else will measure how a wicketkeeper should be selected in terms of the balance of your side," Buchanan said.
"Throughout all of that his batting and keeping has established him as an all-time great of the game.""
Former Australia skipper Kim Hughes said Gilchrist deserved to be remembered alongside the greatest players of all time, including Don Bradman and Shane Warne.
"Wicketkeeper-batsmen will always be compared to Gilly and they will never be as good," he said.
South African Shaun Pollock, who announced his own retirement earlier this month, said Gilchrist was the great all-rounder every team wanted.
"People used to say Australia didn't have enough all-rounders, but he kept wicket fantastically well and he averaged 50 batting at number seven," Pollock said.
"You couldn't ask for a better all-rounder than that. You didn't feel comfortable until you got him out."
England's one-day captain Paul Collingwood, speaking to reporters before his team flew to New Zealand for their upcoming tour, joked that opposing teams could sleep easier now that Gilchrist had retired.
"Thank God for that," he told The Observer.
"He has not only been an outstanding player, he's a great bloke as well.
"He played with absolute freedom and no fear of failure, setting a benchmark that is incredibly difficult for the others."
Former India all-rounder Ravis Shastri said Gilchrist was respected by cricket followers all over the world.
"I'm an Indian and I speak from the heart," he said.
"He will go down as a package, as the greatest wicketkeeper-batsman to have ever played the game."
Former Australia wicketkeeper Rod Marsh said Gilchrist had left a legacy that would hard to repeat.
"I've never seen a man with his job description shape the course of so many games. Whoever replaces him will have enormous shoes to fill," Marsh said.
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