Laxman does it again for Team India

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A final day chase can be full of surprises, showing the game in its most competitive form and offering scope create tales that are truly original. The fifth day at Mohali was another reminder of how the modern world has tended to celebrate the mediocre while allocating only spare references to the real masters.

VVS Laxman is sheer joy and what happened around him during the tense final moments was actually of no consequence. The outburst against Pragyan Ojha was one rare moment of anguish in a career that has sparkled when the chips were down. The opposition were reduced to mere convenience, hallmark of a true genius. By now, all Australians will vouch for that.

“Laxman plays his natural game even when the going gets tough. The situation and conditions do not matter much to him. To guide the side to a win in two successive tough run chases is a huge achievement. He has always reserved his best when the side requires it and the effort on Tuesday was another spectacular effort,” said Laxman’s former team mate Robin Singh.

The UV shades and iPod apart, Laxman is still a cricketer from a bygone era. Sitting methodically with his Bhagwad Gita even during match evenings, Laxman finds great relevance to life that stretches beyond the razzmatazz of Indian cricket.

“Very few Indian batsmen have been adept at scoring against genuine quick bowling. Laxman is right up there with the best along with greats like Sunil Gavaskar and G.R. Viswanath. I always dream of Laxman batting alongside with Vishy and Tiger. His style takes me back to the good old days where big sixes were unheard of and panache was an integral part of batting,” said B. Kalyanasundaram who has had many a famous battle with Gavaskar and Vishy.

Laxman’s tally at the end of 114 Test matches stands at 7490 runs at 47.40 per innings. Hardly figures that suggest the mark of a batsman who has treated the best attacks of his era with utmost disdain. The average jumps to 55.88 against Australia in 25 Tests. “Laxman has always reserved his best for the best. Though the joy is not visible he derives huge satisfaction by performing well against them. He makes it look so simple in the middle and that has often been the reason for the rest of the team to believe they can stand up against Australia,” explained former Indian opener S. Ramesh.

“What are runs, if they don’t help the team to win? India has never lost a Test when Vishy made a hundred. I don’t know how many of Laxman’s hundreds have resulted in victories but the way he contributes when the team requires it is his biggest attribute,” noted Kalyanasundaram. Following his counter punching hundred in Colombo, Laxman stood up again despite a bad back.

For a player who was being handed sell-by dates many times by the ignorant, the returns in the last two seasons have not been bad. As Laxman himself admitted, his conversion rate has been poor. Only 16 hundreds in 114 matches is difficult to digest. But when the Hyderabadi is batting it’s not the runs to keep track of, it’s the memories that will be carried.