Adam Gilchrist revolutionized art of wicket-keeping, feels Kumar Sangakkara

Adam Gilchrist is arguably one of the greatest wicket-keepers to have ever graced the game and he all but single-handedly changed the perception about wicket-keepers. His counter-attacking style of play bailed his team out from many bad situations in the past and through his aggression, also won his team games of cricket single-handedly. He inspired a generation of cricketers and Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara is one of them.

"Not just me, he influenced selectors as well to look at wicketkeeping from a different perspective completely - to understand that a wicketkeeper has to be highly skilled, but at the same time, if he can't contribute with the bat, then picking him becomes quite difficult," Sangakkara told ESPNCricinfo.

"So he challenged wicketkeepers to improve their batting, to understand how to bat with the tail," he further added.

Sangakkara hailed Gilchrist as a 'true all-rounder' for his world class ability with both bat and gloves. He further went on to praise the legendary Aussie for the freedom with which he batted and the aggression that he displayed, while also hailing his ability to adapt to different siutations.

"He defined a role for a batsman-wicketkeeper or a wicketkeeper-batsman, whichever way you describe it. You become a true allrounder: you have exceptional skills both with the gloves and with the bat," Sangakkara asserted.

"The unique thing about his batting was just that kind of abandon and freedom he played with. He assessed situations really well. He was a very high-quality batsman in terms of adapting to pace and spin and different types of wickets," he further added.

Modern wicket-keeper batsmen like Rishabh Pant have also considered Gilchrist as their idol and greats like MS Dhoni have also been the kind of hard-hitting keeper-batsmen that were influenced by Gilchrist's style and approach. Sanga stated that several wicket-keepers, including him, are grateful to Gilchrist for the change he brought about in the art of wicket-keeping.

"A lot of specialist wicketkeepers won't like Adam much because he sounded the death knell for that specialist's role. But people like us, MS Dhoni, would be grateful for that change of mindset he influenced," said Sangakkara.