Laxman’s Doozie Effort - 2

Laxman Helps India Level the Series in South Africa – 2^nd Test, Kingsmead, Durban 26-30 Dec 2010

We all are familiar with famous ‘Fab Four’ of India; Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman. Each one of them is a living legend. While Sehwag is a nightmare for the bowlers and Tendulkar is the most prized scalp, Dravid is a constant headache for the opposition captain. Laxman on the other hand is neither destructive like Sehwag nor consistent like Dravid or Tendulkar but then what is in Laxman that makes him a marvel superhero?

He is the man to go to when chips are down. He will outlive every one when a battle goes right down to the wire. At Mohali against the Aussies in October he battled back-spasm to guide India to a thrilling one-wicket win when it was almost curtains for India. He has done it many times. But for Australia he is a thorn in throat because he has been a lurid presence on the crease for them over the years. His 2001 Kolkata innings is written in the cricket’s classic folk-lore. Then his match-winning 300-plus partnership with Rahul Dravid at Adelaide in 2003-4 is another feast for the purists. He is the second Indian batsman after Tendulkar to score more than 2000 runs against the Australians. In the last tour to Sri Lanka he scored a 5th day century to win the match and draw the series level. Then as mentioned before, his spectacular effort against his boggy team had left Ricky Ponting inconsolable yet again as he returned home winless as a Test captain in India. Laxman played almost a lone hand in India’s run chase of 216 as his experienced colleagues fell to poor shot selection and umpiring error as he guided India to one of its most memorable Test victories. He rescued India from 8-124 and added 81 runs for the ninth wicket from 131 balls and remained unbeaten on 73.

Now again he was the man along with indispensable Zaheer Khan who enabled India to beat South Africa at Durban and level the series in style after a crushing innings defeat at Centurion. He was the top scorer in both innings and made crucial 91 in 2^nd innings in a match where no one else scored more than 39. He handled Steyn and co so well that spirits of the opposition were deflated as he played with the tail remarkably well to help set a tough target. He has been India’s best batsman in the second innings especially in victories where he scores at more than 67 per innings with a record eleven scores of fifty or more including 2 hundreds.

Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman is a wristy batsman in the mold of Zaheer Abbas and Azharuddin. He has the distinction to play the same ball to either side of the wicket with equal efficiency and at times can hit a boundary almost every over. His method especially when the chips are down is to keep the score moving rather than grinding out in the center like Michael Atherton or Sunil Gavaskar. In this way he out-scores others and the target is reached without asking too much from the other batsmen.

People ask who will hold the Indian batting together when the likes of Tendulkar or Dravid retire. I ask who will win the matches for India when silky Laxman bows out of the game!