Murali made Gilly 'feel like a 10-year-old'

Adam Gilchrist says legendary subcontinent spinners Muttiah Muralidaran and Harbhajan Singh were the bowlers that caused him the most difficulty during his decorated career.

Gilchrist compiled 33 centuries in all formats across his 12 years at international level and enjoyed success around the world, including in the subcontinent.

But the former wicketkeeper-batsman says the bowlers that troubled him the most were two of the greatest off-spinners of the modern game, Sri Lanka's Muralidaran and India's Harbhajan.

And he says the rubber-wristed Murali, Test cricket's most prolific wicket-taker, provided him the biggest challenge.

"It would be a combination of Murali and Bhajji," Gilchrist was quoted as saying by PTI when asked which bowlers he feared the most.

"I could never read the delivery from Murali's finger movements. He always made me feel like a 10-year-old."

Despite being perplexed by Murali's unique action, Gilchrist did enjoy plenty of success against both the Sri Lankan and Harbhajan during his career.

And statistics show he was far more effective against Murali than he was against Harbhajan.

One of Gilchrist's greatest knocks at Test level came against Murali and Sri Lanka in Kandy in 2004, when he hammered a magnificent 144 batting at No.3 in the second innings to help steer Australia to a tense 27-run win after they'd conceded a lead of 91 on the first innings.

The left-hander hit 48 from 68 balls he faced from Murali in that innings, including six fours and a six, although the spinner eventually dismissed him LBW.

Murali removed Gilchrist four times in six matches at Test level, with the batsman averaging almost 52 across nine innings against the off-spinner.

And the numbers are firmly in Gilchrist's favour in one-day cricket; Murali dismissed the Australian just twice in 32 matches at ODI level, the Australian hitting seven centuries against him, including a match-winning performance in the 2007 World Cup final.

However, Gilchrist says the numbers belie the true story, saying he employed a horizontal bat to counter Murali's vicious and unpredictable turn.  

"Whenever I was in doubt, I promptly swept," Gilchrist said.

"There was this Test innings where I had gone out with this mindset to sweep.

"First ball, I swept and the ball went for four. Second ball, I swept again. This time, it went straight up in the sky and I was caught.

"Next match, again I swept Murali the first ball and was caught plumb in front of the stumps."

Gilchrist also used the sweep shot with mixed results against Harbhajan, who dismissed him seven times in Test matches and four times in ODIs.

Gilchrist famously struck centuries in the opening Tests of Australia's 2001 and 2004 Tours of India, two rollicking hundreds that propelled the tourists to rare Test victories on Indian soil.

While the Australian got hold of Harbhajan on both of those occasions, the Indian ultimately dismissed him both times and also had the last laugh in those two series.

Harbhajan removed Gilchrist for scores of 0, 1 and 1 in the second and third Tests of the 2001 series and dismissed him for another single score in the fourth Test of the 2004 tour.

Overall, Gilchrist wasn't at his best in matches in which Harbhajan played; he averaged 25 from 10 Tests in matches against the spinner and 31 from 25 ODIs against him.