LAXMAN NOT LUCK'S MAN

LAXMAN BUT NOT LUCK’S MAN

281 is a famous number in the Indian cricket history. 309 maybe the highest individual score by an Indian in a test match but the 281 by Laxman in 2001 home series against the mighty Aussies who had conquered everything on their way and who had won consecutive 16 test victories before, was a landmark innings in the annals of Indian cricket. After being dropped from the ODI squad for the forthcoming SA series on the basis of his reported fitness problem, the mild mannered Laxman came out with a rejoinder stating that he’s fit to play. But the team selected is full of unfit players.
What one would find common in all VVS Laxman interviews is that he wants to win matches for India and of course his desire to play in a World Cup, after the fiasco of 2003 when he was dropped from the World Cup side to make way for Dinesh Mongia.
These statements from one of the batsmen of contemporary Indian cricket who has by all accounts has played one of the greatest test innings of all times, is a not only a reflection of his unfulfilled desire but also vagaries of Indian selection. It is worth recalling Adam Gilchrist’s statements a few years back-“ after every matchwinning innings by VVS, we see him dropped for the next series”. No doubt, the best cricket team of the world holds him in high esteem, but not our selectors.
Laxman’s story is about a talent, tampered by the authorities very frequently, to the detriment of Indian Cricket and also to him personally. Here is a cricketer who has played all his life at that crucial number three position for his School, Club, State and Zone. But he was pitch forked into opening the innings against the bowling attacks that included Alan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and many such tear away bowlers whom the world feared. He did a decent job of that. Infact after his first test innings as an opener, the great Sunil Gavaskar in a column of his had said, “the way Laxman batted in his very first test did not indicate that he was playing his first test match, he batted like a veteran of many test matches playing South African bowlers at utmost ease.”
A batsman’s true caliber is assessed only when he plays successfully in the true and fast bouncy pitches of Australia. No Indian batsman other than Laxman likes the pitches of Australia. In the tour of 1999 of Australia, after starting very promisingly, he could not go on to get big scores. But in the second innings of the final test in Sydney when all was lost for India, he came up with one of his stroke-filled innings of 167 in an Indian score of around 250, that too after all the top order had failed. The innings was not lost on Steve Waugh, the then Aussie skipper, who spoke of Laxman highly after that innings. After this great innings , he was to return back to India as he was not included in the ODI squad. But injuries to other key batsmen forced the Board to retain him in the ODI squad, unfortunately he did not live up to the expectations in the ODI’s.
Just before the Aussies arrived in India in 2001, another great Indian batsman of yesteryears Dilip Sardesai had this to say-“Laxman is as good as the big three(Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly) and he should play in all three tests”. After the first test at Mumbai was over in less than four days with a victory to the Aussies, no one gave India a chance as India’s strike bowler Anil Kumble was injured and India was playing a rookie spinner in Harbhajan Singh. In the second test at Eden gardens Calcutta, when India followed on, not only the test series but also the Indian cricket was at crossroads. Laxman had scored a brave 59 in the first innings coming in at number 6. Following on, when India started its second innings, after the first wicket fell cheaply, as fate would have it, Laxman was sent in at number 3 instead of Dravid who was slightly indisposed. The rest is History.
After this innings everybody thought Laxman has made the number 3 slot his own. That was not to be. After a couple of failures in South Africa, he lost that no.3 slot permanently. This dented his confidence. Soon it seemed like he was losing ground to the youngsters who were blooded into the side. His place was always under pressure. The pressure to perform in almost all the matches he played in, got to him and affected his free flowing stroke play. Those inside out cover drives, effortless on-drives and those trademark flicks to the leg were becoming rare. Added to this, he had to bear the tag of a slow mover in the field and not suited to play ODI’s. The reasons always given for dropping Laxman from the ODI squad is that he is not fit or he is a slow mover and many such excuses on those lines. These statements come from selectors who choose Saurav Ganguly and Ashish Nehra saying that they are matchwinners, neglecting their fielding prowess. If players like Nehra and Ganguly can be selected in the playing eleven despite their fielding abilities, then one wonders what wrong has Laxman done. Afterall, other than Kaif, Yuvraj, Raina and Agarkar, the fielding standards of others is almost at par. I wonder how many players in world cricket have been dropped from their team because they are slow fielders. How is it that Wasim Jaffer, a known slow mover was selected ahead of Gautam Gambhir for the forthcoming South Africa series. It is not that Laxman isn’t a good fielder, his slip catching and outfield catching abilities are second to none. Agreed that he does not have the greatest throwing arm and the quickest of feet. One could come up with names of players who have been worst fielders than VVS and have had a longer career. Then why discriminate Laxman?
There is no doubt that Laxman is a matchwinner. In the final ODI in the 2004 series in Pakistan, when the series was locked at 2-2, Laxman came up with a strokefilled century in the decider, to record India’s first ever ODI series victory in Pakistan. The string of centuries in Australia against the hosts and a Zimbabwe side that included many of their premier players in 2004, the crucial 69 in the Mumbai test on a pitch in which 22 wickets tumbled in two days and in which test India recorded a face saving victory in the 2005 series, are few instances where Laxman’s match winning abilities have come to the fore. One of the reasons for this could be because there is no influential selector representing the South Zone. It is a general perception that players from the states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh don’t have the same backing and support from their state boards, as compared to the states in the North.
The present Indian team is quite young with promising players like Yuvraj, Dhoni, Raina, etc. But to win a premier event like the World Cup, you need players with experience and class. Like when the chief selector Vengsarkar himself admitted that here is a dearth of talent in the country, experience and class should have been given a chance. But unfortunately Laxman is left out high and dry.
If India has to win the World Cup 2007 in the West Indies, something special has to happen. Who else can do this except our Very Very Special Laxman.
FORM IS TEMPORARY, CLASS IS PERMANENT.