Tags:
Journalism of Courage
As Jason Gillespie hung around defending stoutly at anything the Indian spinners threw at him late on Friday, at least some Indian minds would have thought ‘not again’.
Simply because the mean fast bowler has been a thorn in the Indian side for a long time now, and it often happens that the Indians have managed to run through the Aussie top order, but Gillespie has supported the one remaining batsman and used his limited ability with the bat to telling effect.
It started in that 2001 Kolkata Test when Gillespie supported then captain Steve Waugh to help resurrect the Australian first innings. He batted for 190 minutes and scored 46.
Last season, at home, too, the South Australian was in his elements with the bat as he denied the Indians progress between numbers eight and nine, or nine and ten as the case might have been. At Adelaide, Ricky Ponting found in Gillespie an able partner, and the Indians obduracy personified.
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Gillespie against India
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• INNINGS: 17 Gillespie has batted a total of 1069 minutes till date against India, batting out 813 deliveries At his stubbornest… |
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Then it was in Sydney when Gillespie allied with Simon Katich to keep the Indins at bay. The trend continued in the just-concluded series as well, when Damien Martyn used Gillespie’s help to waste a lot of time for the Indians at Chennai earlier this series.
The thing about Gillespie — which has helped him succeed against India where a lot of other have failed — is his ability to read spinners. It is a given if one has to succeed against India, and Gillespie has mastered the ability. Which might also explain his lack of success with the bat against other opposition.
Apart from that, he does not use the pads all that match and prefers to use the bat all the time. Add to that his never-say-die attitude, and the Indians’ grief might continue.
