Laxman’s pristine qualities will be missed
Cricket will always be played and batting always celebrated. It has been so for ages. But the game won’t have a V.V.S. Laxman to decorate it with gems that had become an essential ingredient of his cricket career.
The graceful batsman has chosen to retire with dignity, even though in a huff, and kept his anguish to himself. He mulled over it for four days and it was a painful decision he was compelled to take in the interest of the team and his self pride. He could not always play on his terms, but at least in quitting he had it his way.
With Laxman’s exit, one of Indian cricket’s most glorious chapters of aesthetic batting has shut. To watch him bat was bliss. His class was pristine and Laxman knew it well. He worked hard to hone his style, mostly natural.
Only he can play
Those breathtaking flicks and nudges, those majestic drives and the nonchalant pulls, he had come to master them all. At a nets session one remembers coach John Wright calling a young batsman and telling him, “Watch him, but don’t try to imitate. Only VVS can play them.” Yes, only Laxman could have played with such imperious dominance. Not at nets; in a challenging match situation.
The affable Hyderabadi never had his way. He was made to open and was often shuffled in the batting order against his wishes till the time he got stuck at number 6.
This was a role he enjoyed immensely for it allowed him to grow as an individual in a team game. He played with great dignity, never inviting or expressing disrespect for fellow players or the opposition. Cricket was a pleasant way of life for Laxman, who scored centuries in Tests from position 1 to 6.
His batting was so strikingly contradictory to his character. Off the field he couldn’t hurt a fly but Laxman, the batsman, could destroy the most-famed bowling attacks. And here too, he would carry on the job in a manner that left even the opposition admiring his art.
An artist at work
He was an artist. The canvas of batting was a colourful salutation to his range. He could bat. And he could make others bat. Really, batting looked so easy, so attractive, when Laxman was on strike. He never struck at the ball but merely caressed it. His soft nature created a soft repertoire but quite an effective one.
Laxman, 37, was extremely popular with the Indian bowlers for two reasons. First, they didn’t have to bowl to him.
Second, he would willingly offer his services to be their batting coach. How often these very tail-enders would borrow his bat and go out to live his role.
Remember the one-wicket win over Australia at Mohali in 2010 when Laxman and Ishant Sharma added 81 runs for the ninth wicket. Ishant discovered his batting potential that afternoon. “Watching Laxman bhai bat, I thought this was easy. Watching him, I also thought how I wish I had been a batsman!” Not just Ishant, the list includes Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha.
Great reputation
It is not easy to be a match-winner at any level. Laxman acquired this reputation at the international level. With ease at that! “He is fabulous,” was how once Kapil Dev had remarked. He confessed it would have been a challenge to bowl to an in-form Laxman.
He had the time and skill to direct his shots. “On his day he could beat even 22 fielders and find the boundary,” as Zaheer Khan had rightly analysed during the course of a batting symphony by Laxman.
“The greatest innings ever played by an Indian still belongs to him,” remarked Bishan Singh Bedi. So well remembered! The 281 at the Eden Gardens in 2001 gave new life to Indian cricket and Sourav Ganguly. A pity, they let Laxman down in his hour of need!
In Laxman’s hurried retirement, Indian cricket has lost one of its best match-winner. The game will not be the same. Certainly not for the connoisseurs of artistic batsmanship; nor for the purists! Batsmen like Laxman just don’t come very often.
Keywords: V.V.S. Laxman, Laxman retirement, Test cricket
VVS changed the dynamics of world Test scene with that vintage display of exquisite strokeplay in 281 at Eden. That was a watershed moment in Indian test cricket history and from then on Test side touched glory overseas culminating in top rank in ratings. And throughout this phase of Indian domination, VVS has been a great Match-winner. It has been our fortune to be alive in an era graced by a special batting talent-The Very Very Special-Laxman.
We lost a great cricketer because of lack of communication, foresight and
professionalism by the selectors and management. Anyways, all the best to the
greatest match-winning batsman!!!
One of the greatest cricketers Laxman was a class of his own.
He consistently proved himself in pressure situations and one of
the very few indian batsman who dominated Australian attack.
A complete team man VVS personifies humility and simplicity.
All the very best in his post retirement innings in his life.
Consistency was not his strongest suit but when he sparkled, often in the most dire of circumstances, he made everybody else, bar none, look pedestrian. With a mind as quick and supple as his wrists, his imagination construed avenues of scoring that escaped the likes of Tendulkar, Lara, Dravid and Ponting. His 281 and the half century in Mumbai against Australia on a minefield (alongside Tendulkar) should be preserved for posterity so as to showcase the value of the imagination in batsmanship when faced with the most oppressive of circumstances
India will miss VVS Laxman, a great batsman, a great ambassador for
cricket!
Man with immense talent,enormous credibility and elegant style calls it a day.I reckon he is the greatest cricket player,team player and true gentlemen that Indian cricket team ever had.He did not get the popularity even he worked hard every time when he is on crease.He played numerous memorable knocks.He gave his best in pressure situations and won a lot of matches for India.It is a sad decision but we have to accept it.Kudos to VVS.We are always with you.
Legendary Batsman V V S Laxman, an absolute team man and mattered the
most when India needed. If a cricketer's greatness is to be measured in
terms of his performances against the best opposition of his time, then
Laxman stands right at the top.
VVS Laxman is irreplaceable, much like Dravid. The man who made the
number 281 famous will no longer feature in the Indian test line-up.
Only Tendulkar remains of the greatest middle order. Whoever occupies
his position in the team has got some big shoes to fill and will have to
stick his feet in to even get close to what Laxman has achieved. Had he
managed to convert many of his sublime 50s, and 90s, he would have ended
up with nearly twice the number of 100s he's made in Test Cricket.
One of the top class batsman produced by Indian cricket.
Laxman means elegance, timing, wristwork and soft touch.
When he gets going a sheer delight to watch, His ability to
play in adverse situations with tail enders is matchless.
One of the very few indian batsman who dominated Australian
attack. Magnificient cricketer and a magnificient human
being. All the very best in post retirement innings.
Although never spoken of in the same breath as his more famous peers
like Sachin Tendulkar or Rahul Dravid, he was still the best and the
most bankable lower middle order batsmen of our times. He, alongwith
Rahul Dravid have always been the go-to men in a crisis situation. His
ability to perform well under tense situations, especially against sides
like Australia is worthy of respect. It will be hard to fill the void
created by the exit of this stylish batsman.
A world class batsman. Played perhaps the greatest innings of all time. But the most important thing is that he continues to play in the Ranjis. This will help improve the quality of the first class cricket being played and thus helping the young aspirants. I wish other better players especially bowlers like Zaheer and Kumble played first class cricket.
One of the finest batsmen in the contemporary test cricket has announced his retirement. Excepting for a bad patch in between which is natural with every one, Laxman has been the mainstay of Indian batting attack for a long time. Needless to say that Australians are supposed to be the toughest team in the world and Laxman’s stupendous performance especially against them is sufficient to brand him as the best cricketer ever. His superb wristy approach and easy looking technique at the crease is always a feast to watch and not to mention his cool and composed nature off the field. His retirement will definitely cause a blow to the team but that is a part of game.
Laxman's average (45+) does not do justice to his achievement. Batting at number six, he did not get the amount of batting he should have. In a way he reminds me of the late Vijay Manjrekar, another stylist (in a totally different mould) who also could play matchwinning innings in a crisis. In those days of uncovered wickets, Manjrekar excelled on bad pitches. He once told me he liked batting on bad pitches becasue a relatively small score like 50 or 60 when others struggled to reach double figures could be matchwinning. We should also not forget Laxman's brilliant slip catching. How many more wickets might Subhash Gupte have taken if only he had slip catchers like Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman, not to mention their batting support.
There was some other reason other than providing a chance to younsters
that prompted the stylish Hyderbadi to quit cricket in a huff.Only time
will tell all.
Living in Sydney,I had opportunities to see Laxman bat a number of times at the SCG.I saw
his 3 Test centuries and all of them were gems.The elegance,the poise,the artistry,the
supple wrists evoked "oohs and says" from the Aussie spectators who never seemed to
have enough of him.Commentators like Ian Chappell were effusive in their praise for this
gentle magician and coined the phrase Very very Special Laxman. Laxman and Tendulkar
have always enjoyed a special place in the heart of Aussies with their exploits and modesty
down under. Now that Laxman has walked onto the sunset India's batting will be devoid of
elegance and class.A great batsman and a good human being ,he should be an icon for all
aspiring youngsters!
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