VVS Laxman - A match winner with humility

How many times had we listened to Sunil Gavaskar saying from the commentary box that Indians have a unique knack of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory! And many a times, courtesy reckless play from the Indian batsmen, the retired Indian legend was proved right. Such a thing had not been unfamiliar to Indian cricket till one man decided to reverse the quote of Sunil Gavaskar.

Back in the year 2001, when Indians were almost looking down the barrel, following on against Australia in Eden Gardens Kolkata, a very very special person came to the tri colour’s rescue. A defeat over there for India would have meant a rare test series loss for the host nation. But this man from Hyderabad, batting at No.3 position, joined forces with India’s Mr.Reliable, Rahul Dravid and piled up an unprecedented 376 runs partnership, thereby making the then Australian Captain Stephen Waugh rue his decision of asking the home nation to follow on.

It was then the whole world started to understand the latent talent of the great V.V.S.Laxman. The 281 runs which he scored during the second innings at Eden gardens is easily the best innings ever played by an Indian batsman, considering the situation in which his country was in. So, slightly eschewing from the statement of Gavaskar, he proved to the whole world that India can pull off victories from the jaws of defeat as well.

It was not that he played a blinder of this sort resulting in his country’s victory only once in his career, but on the other hand, time and again he has shown to the whole world he never rode on fluke. Infact, no one can forget his century in Johannesburg which got India its historical test win in the Dark Continent. Likewise, he has played some memorable match saving plus match winning innings many a times during his elite career, which ended rather abruptly as he chose to quit from international cricket when the home series against Newzealand was just about to start.

India will be missing the services of VVS Laxman for sure. Batting at No.5 and sometimes even at No.6, when Sourav Ganguly was still in the team, this man has shown some real artistry of wristy play, believed to have been imbibed by him from the former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin. He has done so much for India as a cricketer but yet we have always seen him as a down to earth person. When Dravid retired from all forms of cricket five months back, Gavaskar had this to say about him – “He is the last gentleman to have played this game”. Was that not a disputable statement as we see now?

If Rahul Dravid is associated with a term called “Gentlemanship”, then what about the elegant Hyderabadi.? Since Laxman started playing at international level four months later than Dravid, the tag of the last gentleman in cricket should be attached to the former. I can say Dravid was last but one. No one can say any bad thing about Laxman either about his game or his on-field behaviour. His humility is something which needs to be learnt by the young cricketers.

Inspite of being one of the star batsmen in the team, he never aspired to steal the limelight on the field. He was quite prepared to be in the shadows of batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, though his ability of being a match winner was better than the two. Not many watching a cricket match would know if Laxman was in the field, except when he was fielding at slips. He had always sported a laid back look on the field proving the proverb, “filled vessels make less noise”, true.

For all what he has achieved in the world of cricket, one can say he has not got enough of recognition. The reason is very simple. For those who require a special attention in the team, the era of Sachin is not the right time for them. For Laxman though, establishing an identity looked all the more impossible because he had to make his presence felt amidst not one but three stalwarts including Sachin, the other being Dravid and Ganguly.

Dravid, though, had the laid back attitude same as that of Laxman, not many would bet against the Wall in winning popularity contests. Besides, the former No.3 batsman made his mark very early as a solid batsman in test cricket, scoring heavily in England, South Africa and West Indies, following his debut. And like I said, there was Ganguly, whose fan following in Kolkata alone was enough to beat any world cricketer. The prince of Kolkata, as he was known, was so good in his timing on the off side that it was widely regarded by many cricket pundits as something out of ordinary. Also, he was very aggressive as a player and also as a captain.

So, it looked almost impossible for Laxman to get himself noticed in the midst of the ever rising popularity of the trio who were two years older to him. But, Laxman had only one thing in his repertoire and it came to his rescue. It was his beautiful wrist play and timing, the lissomness of which the world first saw in Sydney when he scored a beautifully paced 167 runs, when all other celebrated Indian batsmen failed. It was then the fans felt there was a batsman in the team who could still be trusted when the top order failed.

That was the beginning of his love affair with Aussie pace attack. Australians were supposed to be the best lot in tests when Laxman scored against them. Majority of his hundreds in tests and ODIs came against Australia which made Australians expand the Indian’s initials in their own words. Venkata Sai Laxman became Very Very Special Laxman. Another great thing about his batting has been his ability to bat with tail-enders and building partnerships. His batting against spin had always been remarkable and so was his footwork against slow bowling. If there was anyone who made batting look so easy, it was him. Hardly had there been any risk factor involved in his game.

India would surely miss this great batsman from here on. Not only as a batsman but also even as a slip fielder, he would be missed immensely. It is time to look ahead for the Indian team. The players of VVS Laxman’s class come once in hundred years and for every youngster from India he would remain as a person to look for when it comes to not projecting one’s ego on the field. Absolutely zero egoism is what we have seen from him.