Australia

Adam Gilchrist was born at Bellinton, New South Wales, Australia on 14 November 1971. A Wicket keeper and an aggressive left handed batsman, he has played for New South Wales and Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield. Gilchrist made his international debut in the Titan Cup one-day match between Australia and South Africa in 1996-7 at Faridabad and his test debut against Pakistan at Brisbane in 1999-2000. He has been the Australian vice-captain since August 2000 and has been nominated Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2002.
Gilchrist has played 60 test matches till date and has scored 3,703 runs at an average of 50.74 with 204 n.o as his highest score. He has also taken 233 catches and affected 24 stumpings. In limited over internationals, he has played 196 matches and scored 6,533 runs at an average of 35.69 and a highest score of 172. He has also taken 285 catches and affected 39 stumpings.
One of the hardest and sweetest timers of the cricket ball, Gilchrist believes - at whatever level you play, that the ball is meant to be hit. Whether he is opening the batting for Australia or whether he comes in at number seven, he does his job with the dedication of a thorough pro and when he believes he is out, he walks! There are very few sportsmen left in the international arena who still believe in the old dictum that you don't cheat in sports. Gilchrist is old fashioned in that sense, but there is nothing old fashioned about his batting. His strike rate hovers around 80 to 90 and he does a fairly good job behind the stumps, though you may not place him in the class of a Rodney Marsh, Wally Grout or even Ian Healy. He has recently signed a huge sponsorship deal with Puma for promotion of their products and he is a newspaper columnist.
In the absence of Ricky Ponting, the Australian skipper, Gilchrist led Australia to a series win in India after 39 years. But he was only happy to give up the captaincy burdens to Ponting in the Mumbai test, for he does not really enjoy his cricket when he has to lead the side. He is one international sportsman who knows his limitations and believes in playing to the best of his ability.