A tribute to a Very Very Special Laxman on his Birthday!- Part 1

11/01/2015

It was with a heavy heart that we bid VVS. Laxman goodbye from the green fields of cricket on a fine day in August of 2012. As the last of the Fab Five hung up his boots last week and as the shadows of the masters slowly recedes into history, we couldn't help but look back.

I don’t know why. But, I always sensed a certain quality of sadness in Laxman’s batting. Don’t get me wrong, it was a joy to watch him bat. Yet, there lurked a core of underlying fragility beneath all that class. There was none of Dravid’s solidarity or Sachin’s perfection; it did not seem to belong in today’s world, and did not seem as if it would survive. Perhaps, it was only me seeing the vulnerability of his early career reflected in his batting!

Whatever it was, I never wanted to miss watching Laxman bat- for I was afraid I would not witness something as beautiful again. Laxman had this magical ability to warp and distort time. Never the one to rush, he always had ample time to face the fastest of bowlers.

There was nothing violent in his batting, it was all grace. There was no flourish in his strokes, yet plenty of style. A mere push would send the ball racing away. It was as if the ball was there to pander to Laxman's whims. He could caress a ball pitched on the fourth stump through extra cover or he could whip it through mid-wicket.

This was not the stuff of mere mortals, this was magic. As John Wright once said to a young kid "Watch him bat, but don't try to emulate him."

Yet, Laxman was not only about style. He had substance too, plenty of it. An extremely versatile batsman, he batted at all position except ten and eleven. Having struggled in the initial part of his career, he found himself as a make-shift opener. His 167 in Sydney earned him some much-needed time, but Laxman took a bold gamble and declined to continue as an opener. He would fight for his place in the middle order. And boy oh boy, did he make a fist of it!

His 281 against Australia at the Eden Gardens in 2001 was arguably the best innings ever played by an Indian and will remain so for many years to come. That day at Eden Gardens, Laxman elevated the art of batting to hitherto unexplored heights. Runs flowed, records tumbled and the Aussie spirit was broken. Steve Waugh's final frontier remained unconquered.

It was an epochal innings in more ways than one. His love affair with Australia was firmly established. But, more importantly, it turned out to be a water-shed moment in Indian cricket. Indian cricket was yet to recover from the match fixing saga but that victory gave us new hope. A rejuvenated team under the brilliant leadership of Sourav Ganguly and the guidance of John Wright embarked on a journey that would take India to the No. 1 Test spot in Tests and would culminate in victory at the T20 and ODI world cups.

However, it all started with Laxman. The golden age of Indian Cricket would last 10 years, 4 captains, 3 coaches, many disasters but also many a special victory to savour and relish.

Eventually, Laxman would find his true calling at the No. 5 & No. 6 positions. At the twilight of his career, he treated his fans to some truly special innings. Shepherding the tail expertly, Laxman scored a century in Sri Lanka, 73 in Mohali and 96 glorious runs in Durban. The common thread among all the three innings was the fact that all of them came in the second innings and were also match winning. The 96 in Durban was one of the finest exhibitions of batting I ever had the good fortune to see.

Yet, his form deserted him in the all-important campaigns against England and Australia. His batting was a pale shadow of the magic he displayed in the years gone by. Sadly, the decline in form proved terminal. When the end arrived, it was all too fast and came without a warning.

In many ways, Laxman was an unlikely hero. He had neither Sehwag's flair nor Tendulkar's sense of destiny. None of Dravid's solidarity nor Ganguly's aggressiveness; not even Kumble's never-die spirit. What Laxman had instead, was a remarkable sense of occasion. As the crisis got bigger, the opponents tougher and the odds higher, the best in Laxman emerged.

Amidst chaos and panic, Laxman was an oasis of calm. Watching Laxman bat, one could never tell the state of the match. Adversity brought the best out of him and was the key to many a match-winning innings of his.

So, what is Laxman's enduring legacy to the game of Cricket in general and Indian cricket in particular? To me, it was the remarkable grace he brought to the game. In this regard, Laxman is in august company alongside the likes of Mark Waugh, David Gower, K.S Ranjitsinghji and Mohd. Azharuddin. On and off the field, he carried himself with great poise and dignity. Courting neither fame nor controversy, Laxman still managed to find a place for himself in the pantheon of Indian greats. He has certainly enriched the proud tradition of Indian batting.

It was with a heavy heart that we bid VVS. Laxman goodbye from the green fields on a fine day in August of 2012. As the last of the Fab Five hung up his boots last week and as the shadows of the masters slowly recedes into history, we couldn't help but look back.

Unsurprisingly, you have managed to retain the special place in our hearts. As Ian Chappel put it, you are indeed 'Very Very Special' Laxman.

By,

Sarath

Click here to read part 2 of our tribute to Laxman