Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman or famously known as VVS Laxman is celebrating his 49rd birthday today. A good day to ponder what kind of legacy would the stylish and silky batsman from Hyderabad has given to Indian cricket, and how will the current generation remember this very very special player. Indian cricket over the years has produced many kinds of players and ones such as Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and now Virat Kohli will always be talked about as they have redefined the rules of the game.
But, when you talk about Laxman, you instantaneously think of his innings of 281 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata against Australia in 2001. The above-mentioned innings changed the face of Indian cricket forever and Indian cricket has never looked back after this heroic innings by India’s gifted and talented player VVS Laxman.
Australia’s tour of India in 2001 was billed as the battle between all-conquering mighty Aussies vs team which was mocked as tigers at home and lambs abroad. Aussies, who were on a winning spree had never beaten India in India since 1969. According to their captain Steve Waugh, it was their final frontier and Australia were in no mood to show any sympathy to the hosts.
India under the leadership of young and fearless Sourav Ganguly were still reeling from the match-fixing scandal and many experts and fans were raising questions over India’s ability to compete against baggy greens.
Australia, as usual, annihilated India at Wankhede, Mumbai by 10 wickets in the first Test and in the second Test at Eden Gardens, Kolkata were on their way to complete their captain’s mission of conquering the final frontier. But, there was a small matter of innings played by unheralded and gentle VVS Laxman, who turned the match on its head by scoring 281 (then highest Test score by an Indian) while following-on against the likes of Shane Warme and Glenn McGrath, who were in peak condition. He scripted an amazing win for the men in blue and India buoyed by this innings went on to win the third Test at Chennai and with that won the series 2-1. The innings by Laxman at Kolkata changed his career and after that innings his life changed, and Laxman became an irreplaceable part of Indian cricket.
Is Laxman synonymous with the innings of 281? Do people remember Laxman for only one innings? Have we ever appreciated the contribution of Laxman to Indian cricket? These questions can only be answered by Laxman, but his contribution goes much deeper than one innings and Laxman represented India with distinction over the course of his career — in 134 Test matches, hitting 17 hundreds and scoring 8,781 runs at an average of 45.97. Laxman was no mug with the bat in ODI cricket and scored over 2,000 runs in 86 matches.
When the going gets tough, the tough gets going and Laxman belonged in that category and scored runs in Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, South Africa and generally played well when chips were down and team needed someone to stand up. It’s not easy to be in shadow or company of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, who were all legends in their own right, but Laxman never got his ego in the way and performed his duties admirably both on and off the field.
Here’s Laxman’s 281 vs Australia at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, 2001
VVS Laxman, like his state mate and former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin, was a wristy player and when in full flow was a treat to watch. Laxman scored tough runs and was a master in batting with tailenders. He forged a reputation as a fourth innings specialist. Laxman also played with legends and might not have hit as many hundreds compared to Tendulkar (51) or Dravid (36), but he put his hand up in difficult situations. The elegant Laxman had no apparent weakness in his game and was equally good against pace as well as spin.
Life is filled with happy memories and regrets and Laxman also had difficult moments and would be disappointed that he never represented India at the World Cup and could not become a regular member of the one-day unit. During the last phase of his career, the Hyderabadi suffered a slump in form and was part of the (in)famous 8-0 drubbing in England and Australia in 2011-12. Laxman didn’t care about records and was only interested in winning games for India and was a player who changed Indian cricket with his work ethic and infectious smile. VVS Laxman would like to be remembered as a player who was a complete team man.
