Top 5 number 5s in Tests for India

#1 VVS Laxman

V V S Laxman

One of India's greatest ever middle-order batsmen had a tough start to his career when the team management could not quite find a place for him in the batting order and VVS Laxman had to open the innings or risk being dropped. However, a batsman of such sublime gifts can't be kept out for long and eventually, he found his place in India's middle-order. He went on to play 134 Tests for India between 1996 and 2012 and batted at number 5 in 52 of them.

Laxman was one of those rare batsmen who believed in attacking batsmanship and was well known for taking on the best bowlers in the world. He was superb against pace, his backfoot play was outstanding and he was probably the best player of spin in the side along with Sachi Tendulkar.

Moreover, he had that rare quality of thriving on difficult wickets and often made a difference at number 5. In 52 Tests at number 5, the right-hander from Hyderabad made 2877 runs at an average of 47.16 and made 6 centuries, in addition to 17 half-centuries.