Communication was key to India's success in the early 2000s, states VVS Laxman
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Former India batter VVS Laxman hailed communication as the key to a team’s success on the international stage pointing out that Indian team under John Wright was like a family. Laxman revealed that Wright wanted every batsman to coach a bowler so as to tap into their potential with the willow.
It was the leadership of the then skipper Sourav Ganguly and the vision of coach John Wright which sparked the revolution in Indian cricket, the result of which we are witnessing now. From backing young players to pushing them to their limits, the duo did it all.
Former India international VVS Laxman, remembering his time under Wright, shared how the New Zealander inspired the bowlers to help out the batsman in the middle.
Laxman revealed that Wright asked the batsmen to help out the bowlers in honing their batting skills which proved mighty helpful as they put in handy contributions for the side from the lower order.
“I think I should give credit to John Wright for this where I convinced John Wright that it is very important that we got bowlers who take pride in their batting whether Anil, Harbhajan, Ishant, Zaheer, whoever. We were very fortunate to have those bowlers who took a lot of pride in their batting and bowling,” Laxman was quoted by Hindustan Times.
“John made it a point that each batsman in the team would become a batting coach and a batting partner to one bowler. For me, it was Zaheer Khan. We had to make sure that after each net session we gave a throw down to the bowlers so they can improve on their skills.”
Laxman believes that one of the biggest reasons behind their success was clear communication between the players. Under Ganguly and Wright, India rose to become a fearsome force in world cricket, a force to be reckoned with even when on the move.
“Working as a family is very important. and then I also used to have a chat with them saying they were very good. So when the challenges started coming by especially against good bowling attacks, I used to give them strike to show my belief and trust their ability. And I used to tell them you are capable of scoring runs. Communication is very important,” Laxman added.
