Laxmania

Elegance with excellence forms the gist of Laxman’s batting. Dexterous wristwork, a glance of elegance; a dainty cover drive, a gentle tap that orchestrates a boundary: it’s poetry in motion.

A few days or weeks after India had won the first ever Twenty-20 world cup, an overenthusiastic fan — much like the overenthusiastic news channels — prophesied Laxman to be out of the test team for the forthcoming tour of Australia in a talk show at a news channel. His assertion couldn’t have been more imbecilic, in view of Laxman’s extraordinary record against Australia. Even a daftest of selection panel wouldn’t drop him against Australia. (He went on to score one pugnacious century and two fifties in the test series in Australia, including a match-winning 79 at Perth.) Any doubts that I had had over Indian selectors were erased after taking into account Laxman’s consistent retention in the team, notwithstanding the tough competition for places in the robust middle order of India. And he made his place worth the selection by scoring consistently and expediently series after series.

Later on when Kumble took over the test captaincy in late 2007, before home series against Pakistan, he expressed absolute disagreement over the calls for Laxman’s omission: “I don’t know why there is always a sword hanging over his head.” And underlined his importance in the team: “All these speculations are from outside. Inside the dressing room we all know how valuable he is to the team.”

Siddharth Moga, Cricinfo writer, has emphasised the same: “VVS Laxman has spent almost all his career as the most disposable member of the team. He has one bad Test, and the knives come out. Fans and critics alike find Laxman’s the easiest place to question. Thankfully, his team-mates and the selectors know his worth.”

He scored over 1000 runs in the year 2008, and in that year media — yet again — cried out for his exclusion after the Sri Lankan tour that India lost by 1-2 and the middle order struggled to cope up with Sri Lankan bowlers. Even then he scored two fighting fifties, including one with a swollen knee. Selectors never allowed such inane suggestions to influence their selections.

It is quite ironic that two years after the Sri Lankan series, which had customarily reignited the calls for his retirement, his career average has ascended from 43 to 47. And he has finished the series with match-winning 56 and 103* with the latter coming in the fourth innings. Laxmania is still going strong.

Cynics may complain of a low conversion rate of fifties into hundreds: 16 hundreds and 45 fifties. (Why care about cynics? Had he brooded over their remarks his career would have been over right after 2001.) Batting at number six for most of his career has often stranded him at unbeaten half-centuries. And India’s feeble tail hasn’t helped the cause either. He may not have the imposing statistics of Jayawardane, Sangakkara or Graeme Smith but he makes that up with the sheer quality and in-hour-of-need speciality of his innings.