Gilly's most underrated opponent

Having played nearly 400 international matches for Australia, Adam Gilchrist came up against a lot of different opponents in his dozen years at the highest level.

To be more accurate, Gilchrist went toe to toe with 249 Test foes, 488 one-day international adversaries and 60 T20 international challengers.

While there’s sure to be some crossover between formats – Gilchrist played against Andrew Flintoff in all three forms, for example –a safe estimate would be the game-changing wicketkeeper-batsman played against more than 500 different antagonists. That’s a lot.

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So when Gilchrist was asked on The Unplayable Podcast who his most underrated rival was, it took the 45-year-old a moment to search through his vast catalogue of opponents before landing on his final selection.

"Someone who comes to mind who might have been a bit underrated but certainly challenged us and had some good tussles with was Craig McMillan for New Zealand," Gilchrist said on this week’s episode.

"Really, really tough character and got the most out of his ability.

"He probably isn’t a name that everybody thinks was a superstar but I found him a real challenge and rated him highly as a cricketer."

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McMillan played 12 Tests and 38 ODIs against Australia and averaged in the mid-20s in each format with one century – a knock of 117 in 2007, a match in which Gilchrist didn’t feature and New Zealand won having chased down 347.

The pair were involved in a heated moment back in 2004 in the first Test of the summer at the Gabba when McMillan chose not to walk after clearly edging a ball from Jason Gillespie through to Gilchrist and was given not out.

The Black Caps were 7-72 at that point and staring down the barrel of a huge innings defeat. McMillan, who traded verbal barbs with the Australian ‘keeper about his decision to stand his ground, was out lbw the next delivery for nine.

After the match, New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming called Gilchrist’s ‘walking’ belief a "crusade" and that it placed pressure on competitors to walk, while Australia captain Ricky Ponting said the ‘walking’ topic had been "blown out proportion".

McMillan and Gilchrist discussed their differences on the sideline following Australia’s comprehensive win.

Gilchrist was a renowned ‘walker’ after his shock dismissal in the 2003 World Cup semi-final against Sri Lanka where he walked in the fifth over having been given not out caught in close.

So if McMillan is Gilchrist’s most underrated enemy, who was his fiercest?

"The rival I found most difficult to play against was Murali (Sri Lanka legend Muthiah Muralidaran)," Gilchrist said.

"It’s a great rivalry because of late, getting to know him since and learning more about him, I’ve learnt he was fearful of me and I was fearful of him. It’s an interesting rivalry.

"Perception, it’s always wondering what others are doing and it can get in your mind.

"He got me a number of times and there were times when I got him.

"Really fond memories of taking on him, the highest wicket-taker of all time, it was a thrill to be locked in a rivalry with him."

For the record, Gilchrist averaged 42.55 with one century in Tests and 50.36 with six hundreds in ODIs against Muralitharan’s Sri Lanka, while the master spinner dismissed the Australian four times in six Tests but just twice in 32 one-dayers.