Birthday special: VVS Laxman – Class and elegance personified

Former Indian cricketer and current Head of the NCA Vangipurapu Venkata Sri Laxman had a glorious time with the national team. The way he flaunted his stroke play and strengthened the middle order of the team was beyond amazing. The right-handed batsman struggled a bit to run between the wickets, but his technique and masterstrokes overpowered everything. The strange thing about Laxman is, he is one of the very few players to have appeared in 100 Test matches without appearing even once in the ODI World Cup.

Love for Australia

In 2002, he was named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year. In 2011, he was honoured with Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award for his great contribution to the nation’s cricket. He was known for his stroke play and many other aspects, but his career was defined with his dangerous display against Australia. He was just one batsman who loved to show his heroics against the Kangaroos. They were left baffled every single time when he used to stand tall at the crease.

He was prolific against Australia in both Test and ODI formats. Six out of his total 17 tons in Test cricket and four out of his total six tons in ODI format came against Aussies only. Laxman has two double tons on his name, one was his personal best (281 in Kolkata in 2000-01) and another one in 2008-09 in Delhi and both of these came against Australia. The Kangaroos just accepted straight away that they didn’t know where to bowl Laxman in order to trap him.

He played 134 Test matches and scored 8781 runs whereas, in ODI format, he donned the Indian jersey in 86 matches to score 2338 runs. He was also part of the Indian Premier League with Deccan Chargers as he was named as the captain of the side in 2008. However, he stepped down from his position midway to hand over the charge to Adam Gilchrist. He moved to Kochi Tuskers Kerala in 2011 and found himself no buyer in 2012 IPL.

Laxman retired from international cricket in 2012 and is now known for being a cricket Pundit and an expert commentator. In IPL, he is the mentor of SRH and is associated with the franchise from the last few years.