Arthur Crabtree wrote:Did he change the ODI style. Not other top order openers like Greatbatch or Jayasuriya? Or Dilshan later on, who created his own shot.
He was just very good, or arguably most represented a style of play, rather than being a pioneer.
Gilchrist is the first batsman I ever noticed who was happy to plant his feet solidly, and let his hands do the work. From this fixed stance he would then improvise shot making in an array of ways, and it pretty much meant that where-ever you bowled to him he could score, which is so essential in the high scoring T20 environments of nowadays. He'd pull you off the front foot, he open the face on anything full and with width and go over the ring, and so many people targeted his body and found his body turn was like a golfer, he'd swivel into a shot and dink it into the stand over fine leg's head. This all feels standard now across the board, but he was the first to be doing it I ever took notice of, realising as long as you keep the head still as the balls delivered and you have quick hands, you can make contacts on a range of unorthodox shots. No one before him could turn any ball anywhere on the pitch into a six.
Klusener went the other way, the "get the front foot out and swing down the line".... together they both totally changed the technical attitudes to scoring quickly in the game.