Phantom menace

In a game obsessed with numbers and statistics chances are that in years to come Gillespie will be dismissed as just one of Glenn McGrath1...

In a game obsessed with numbers and statistics chances are that in years to come Gillespie will be dismissed as just one of Glenn McGrath8217;s sidekicks. Or the 27-year-old pacer with 134 Test scalps, who by a conservative estimate might just about get into the 200-Wicket Club by the time he retires, might get the honour to be remembered as one of the Invincible Aussies.

But ask his skipper and he will provide some value addition. Steve Waugh calls him 8220;his last card for a desperate situation8221;. He will insist infront to the historians that contrary to the general belief Gillespie wasn8217;t a sidekick but a trusted henchman who gets the call when The Boss is in a corner.

The third force

Lead pair: Lillee-Thomson Cameo: Alderman
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, if Lillee won8217;t get you, Thommo must. But that8217;s just a banner at the SCG, in reality the English batsmen dreaded the banana swingers of Terry Alderman who had to wait for Lillee and Thomson to retire before coming good on his own. Picked up 100 wickets in just 17 Tests against the old foes.

Lead pair: Donald-Pollock Cameo: De Villiers
Sachin Tendulkar was one batsman who wasn8217;t always comfortable against Fannie de Villiers8217; accuracy and his change of pace. De Villiers was part of South Africa8217;s memorable victories but was overshadowed by Donald and Pollock. So much so, was forced into early retirement as South African selectors pushed Klusener, Ntini into the side.

Lead pair: Waqar-Akram Cameo: Razzaq
Abdur Razzaq has good cutters and uses them deceptively at a nippy pace. Known as partnership breaker and can bowl with new or old ball with equal effectiveness. Look at the man of match awards he has picked up in ODIs, yet Waqar-Akram-Akhtar are the big boys. Razzaq also has to fight for a spot in the limelight with the scene stealer Shoaib Akhtar. But Razzaq batting too comes handy.

And in case one wonders that these are praise from a benevolent skipper or maybe just another Aussie mind games take listen to our own Rahul Dravid. 8216;8216;One cannot relax while facing him because he has the knack of coming up with something special to surprise even a batsman who is well-set. He is dangerously unpredictable,8217;8217; says the man, who had a long duel against the Aussie during that historic home series last year. While recollecting that famous Kolkata Test, in which he scored 180 along with VVS Laxman8217;s record-breaking 281, Dravid says, 8216;8216;During the Kolkata Test Gillespie never gave up. He made our stay in the middle very difficult as he kept on producing wicket balls every now and then.8217;8217;

If one scans Gillespie8217;s Test record and goes beyond the misleading figure showing the 8220;number of wickets8221; one comes across some revealing facts. Of all the fast bowlers in the history of cricket, only three reached the mark of 100-Test wickets with a better strike rate than Gillespie. And the list includes Syd Barnes, George Lohmann and Waqar Younis.

Story continues below this ad

And in some aspects of bowling statistics Gillespie is ahead of his more illustrious teammate Shane Warne and almost on par with Bret Lee and McGrath. If Gillespie needs 51.4 balls for every Test wicket, Lee does it in 48.3 and McGrath 50.8. Meanwhile, Warne needs 60.7 balls for a Test scalp. For records, the all-time greats like Dennis Lillee 52.00, Jeff Thomson 52.6, Andy Roberts 55.1, Courtney Walsh 57.8 and Curtly Ambrose 54.5 are below Gillespie on this chart.

8216;8216;Had he been playing for any other team, Gillespie may have taken more wickets. But, with all the attention and hype around McGrath and Warne, he has had to change his style,8217;8217; says Dravid.

Yes, playing under the shadow of mercurial names isn8217;t the most promising of incentives. With the robot-like efficiency of McGrath, charismatic pace of Lee and the magical spin of Warne, Gillespie had a tough time finding a role for himself, forget thinking of outshining his famous teammates. But the gritty pacer has not just survived but carved his niche. A silent destroyer who might not be the 8216;man of the match8217; that often but most of the time be his skipper8217;s 8216;man for a difficult moment8217;.

While the Kapils, Walshs, Akrams and Hadlees might be the Poster Boys of world cricket, Gillespie happens to the member of the Backroom Boys Club.

Story continues below this ad

Other members of this amorphous band being South Africa8217;s Fanie de Villiers, Pakistan8217;s Abdur Razzaq and his countryman Terry Alderman.

As one watches Gillespie run in to bowl he is picture of grit and determination. Eyes gleaming, almost hunched under the load of concentration, high-arm action and hitting the deck with seam upright. Besides getting that awkward bounce and movement of the pitch at a nippy pace, he isn8217;t the one to give a batsman any leeway after a tight McGrath or Warne over. His frame may be akin to a beanpole but Gillespie has the three attributes of a good fast bowler: speed, movement and accuracy. There is an added plus of his ability to bowl long spells. Chetan Sharma, the Indian pacer of 80s and early 90s, is convinced Gillespie is one of the 8216;8216;most hard working8217;8217; fast bowlers in the world today. But what amazes Chetan like the rest of us is 8216;8216;the amount of pace he generates with his frail body.8217;8217;

But that fragile frame has over the years broken down several times. And that explains why the 27-year-old Gillespie has played just 3 Tests. Unfortunately, he has spent more time taking rounds of hospitals than being on field. You name the injury and chances are Gillespie will have the rehab programme on his tips. Side strain; spinal stress fracture; heel injury; knee strain; back spasms; broken leg, wrist, hamstring, ankle. Gillespie suffered them all and more importantly has come out of them all. His never-say-die attitude makes Dravid believe: 8216;8216;Players of lesser spirit may have given up because of injuries. But Gillespie in those moment of crisis has come out trumps.8217;8217; Not surprisingly, Waugh throws the ball to him when the Aussie spirits are sagging.