"I turned to Matthew Hayden and said I'm done, I'm out"- Adam Gilchrist narrates how dropping VVS Laxman forced him into Test retirement

Former Australian wicket-keeping great Adam Gilchrist opened up about how a dropped catch of India's VVS Laxman forced him to consider his retirement from Tests. The incident took place in the final Test of the 2007-08 Border Gavaskar Trophy in Adelaide, with Australia leading the four-match series 2-1.

With India batting at 231/4 in the first innings and Laxman in his 30s, Gilchrist dropped a sitter off the bowling of Brett Lee. However, the drop proved not too costly as Laxman was dismissed for 51 by the Lee-Gilchrist combination.

Yet, in a recent Club Prairie Fire Podcast, Gilchrist narrated how the drop instantly made him realize that he was done in the red-ball format despite planning for his 100th Test in a few months the previous night. He recalled:

"Funny thing happened when India were in Australia the last time I played against them. I was trying to attempt to take a catch off the bowling of Brett Lee. And the night before I had been on the phone to my wife all night working out the travel plans because we were touring the West Indies after the India series."

"On that tour, I was probably going to get myself up to 99 Tests and then after that, we were going to tour India and that's where I would have played my 100th and joined an elite group of Australian Test cricketers and a few others around the world," said Gilchrist.

He continued:

"Then the next day, I attempted to take a catch off the outside edge of VVS Laxman, dropped it, an absolute soda, as simple as it gets. The ball hit the ground and I looked at the replay on the big screen, looked at it again and again and again and it went probably 32 times.

"I turned to Matthew Hayden and said I'm done, I'm out. From the ball hitting the glove to the ball hitting the grass, in an instant, I realized it was time to retire. Don't worry about the tour of the West Indies, don't worry about the 100th Test in India, that was the decision made for me to give up Test cricket."

This was Gilchrist's 96th Test of his career with a three-match series in West Indies to follow before the tour of India. However, the Adelaide outing against India was his final outing in Tests for Australia as he finished his career four short of the cherished 100-Test landmark.

"The definitive moment of my Test career and have never regretted it since" - Adam Gilchrist

Adam Gilchrist admitted that the dropped catch and the decision to retire was the moment that sprung to mind about an Indian series in Australia.

The champion gloveman remains the all-time leading run-scorer by a wicket-keeper in Tests with 5,570 runs at an average of 47.60 and 17 centuries.

"A lot of realization came to me and I said to Haydos (Hayden) 'Mate, I'm done, I'm out.'He looked at me just very quickly and said, 'Come on mate, don't beat yourself up, it's not the first one of those you dropped and it probably won't be the last, let's face it,'" Gilchrist continued in the aforementioned podcast.

"Good support from a teammate, but that was a moment in an Indian series in Australia that I remember - the definitive moment of my Test career and have never regretted it since

India and Australia will battle Down Under in a five-match series, starting in Perth on November 22.