Exclusive - Adam Gilchrist Made Everyone Comfortable As Captain: Paul Valthaty

Adam Gilchrist was the legend of the game but the never had the cloud around him and made everyone felt special, said his former KXIP opening partner Paul Valthaty. The former KXIP opener, best known for his prolific knock against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), played under the captaincy of Gilchrist and well knows how he operates.

Before MS Dhoni broke into the international circuit, the Australian great was regarded highly for his wicket-keeping skills. Gilchrist held the record for most dismissals by a wicket-keeper in ODIs until Kumar Sangakkara surpassed him. Valthaty said that it was his fellow Mumbai player Rohit Sharma, who spoke to him about Gilchrist first.

“In the beginning KXIP offered me the contract and Adam Gilchrist was the captain, few years back he was the captain of Deccan Chargers. Also, Rohit Sharma, we used to hang out together, play together. He sort of mentioned that Gilly is a very good captain for the uncapped players for the youngsters, he takes care of them,” Paul Valthaty told Cricket Addictor in an exclusive interview.

“I was always a Matthew Hayden fan….but once your sort of know him (Gilchrist). He told me you’ll be in the side for most the games. When he was with us, he was one of the boys, so we could easily go to him. Not having the cloud of a great player, he made us extremely comfortable,” he added.

Valthaty played 23 matches in the IPL and scored 505 runs at an average nearly 23. He had one century, with the high score of 120, and two half-centuries to his name.