MELBOURNE: Adam Gilchrist's blunders against India on the first day at Adelaide has sparked debate about his future but former captain Ravi Shastri made light of his mistakes, saying the Australian remained a feared opponent and deserved to go out on his own terms.
The 36-year-old Gilchrist, the veteran of 95 Tests straight who recently declared he would play for another year, surprised his team by failing to take what looked a simple catch when VVS Laxman was on 37 on Wednesday.
"If he believes he has got stuff left in him, I think he should be entitled to play on," Shastri said.
"He has set such high standards that no wicketkeeper-batsman in the history of cricket has done. So you get that bad feeling when he does make a mistake. He is only human. Before you jump at criticism of someone like that, you have to be careful," he was quoted as saying by the 'Herald Sun'.
"Like Sachin, if he says he can play two years, he bloody well can play two years" he added.
Former Australian captain Steve Waugh conceded Gilchrist's 'keeping was down on his past standards and said he was fortunate the Indians didn't fully punish the error, with Laxman adding just 14 more runs.
"For a world-class keeper, Gilly's concentration and consequently his sharpness of footwork hasn't been up to his usual exceptional standard and this one could have really hurt Australia," he wrote in his column for News Limited newspapers.
Gilchrist is just two dismissals away from claiming the world record of South African Mark Boucher.
