Laxman Imperious
February 7th 2008 11:34
[This article was written in praise of VVS Laxman after that special innings in the Sydney Test in the just concluded India-Australia Test Series]
Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman is a quiet man. He is an engineering graduate. He appears to have been as good a student then with his books as he is now of the game. But what we never knew about him was that he likes the colour green. Added to that he loves marsupials. Yes, he positively adores them. Ask him which marsupial he likes the most. The answer is likely to come pat but shy faced as is his wont - Kangaroos.
Some people reserve their best for the occasion. But there are a few people, a select band who reserve their best against the best. VVS Laxman belongs to the second category. And in focussing on the second objective, he often satisifes the first one too. For how big can an occasion get than when India play against the best team in the world - Australia. Bring on the Aussie Kangaroos in their baggy greens and you can rest assured that you will see the best of VVS Laxman. And the best of VVS Laxman is very near to the best that Test cricket batting can offer to the connoisseur of the game.
A measure of his batting today in the first innings of the 2nd Test against Australia at the SCG is that we greatly regret that his innings has ended. And we feel that India will struggle tomorrow and that the best is past. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is despite the fact that the people manning the crease come tomorrow are 2 of the greatest cricketing sons that India has ever produced, of which one certainly is the greatest batsman of his generation. Tendulkar and Ganguly are still at the crease. Still one feels that Australia has gotten the upper hand today with the dismissal of Laxman. Such is the measure of his batting wizardry.
Earlier, India had let slip the opportunity to control the game against the Australians - again. They had them on the mat at 134 for 6 but were allowed to not just wriggle away but loom over the Indians with an imposing total of 463 runs. Symonds, he the quaffer of the quadruple strength luck potion, was still standing at 162. Any other team, well to be specific, any other Indian team would have buckled under this enormous weight of first innings runs. But the team having VVS does not fear such petty things. After all, here we have the architect of one of the most ferocious double centuries the game would ever get to see. But only the people watching the game would have known that Laxman is about as ferocious as a newborn lamb. Laxman is a finely cut, beautifully chiselled batting prism. This prism is an upgraded model over the one known as Mohammad Azharuddin. While that older model had a tendency to reflect powerfully only on the onside, this particular one reflects stunningly all around. Come a game against Australia and this prism brightens up and also seems to improve its powers. For how does one explain the fact that this run-tight Australian attack comprising two searing fast bowlers in Lee and Johnson, one quality swing and seam bowler in Clark and a confident, spirited and talented spinner in Hogg were never able to get a handle on this prism. Whatever they threw at him was beamed right back. Sometimes it came back straight to them. Other times they would be chasing the beam (the ball) all around the ground. And sometimes the ball was reflected with many times the speed with which it was delivered by them. It did not matter which stump or which line they attacked. The result seemed somehow preordained, even inevitable - runs, bushels of them. He scored his half century off only 43 deliveries and went onto score his 100 in 127 eventful balls with the aid of 17 lovingly crafted boundaries. Watching this master class live one felt that the bat and the ball were somehow conniving to produce this show. It was as if when the ball kissed the bat, the latter whispered about the beauty and solitude to be found beyond the boundary and the ball, on hearing this, sped on single mindedly to find what it was all about at the boundary. The ball was definitely gullible because it made that trip 17 times today.
Laxman's demeanour and backlift, even the backswing is unfailingly benign. But at the point that the willow makes contact with the cherry, he gives his wrist a wicked twist - imparting direction and power to the ball. Sometimes the ball speeds off with so much velocity that one almost thinks that it is afraid to linger on his bat. His shots also seem to gain speed over the turf - leaving chasing fielders huffing and puffing right upto the boundary. It is almost as if he imparts some form of topspin to the ball to get that subtle quickening up across the turf. Replays of his innings must always have a disclaimer down at the bottom advicing budding batsmen not to attempt that flick of the wrist and that if they insist on trying it, the broadcaster does not take any responsibility for the results. His suppleness of wrists is indeed unmatched even in a nation which prides itself on producing exceptionally wristy batsmen. Laxman is a throwback to the old school of batting. Timing and placement, for him, take precedence over smothering, belting and otherwise brutalizing the ball.
Dravid played a very important part along with Laxman in not just defying the Australians but giving them a dose of their own medicine. The Wall was defensive for the most part and almost completely left the stage show to Laxman. He only concentrated on doing the dirty work, like setting the stage up and propping it on support pillars - grunt work, in short. The work that he enjoys the most and is unfailingly good at. The Australians cannot be faulted for not trying. Ponting, with his impressive captaincy continuing on from the MCG tried everything in the book and some outside it too. The same applies for the bowlers. They had it all - speed, accuracy, movement and bounce. But they had committed one cardinal sin. They played for Australia. That was enough for Laxman to disregard all angles of geometry and stroke a few away-going, short of length deliveries to the mid wicket and long on boundaries. There were other good length deliveries which were charmed into getting introduced to the boundaries behind the bowler. The problem with the bowlers could also be that they could not get angry at somebody who never hits them. He only guides, charms, cajoles and caresses his strokes. Lest this makes him sound like some kind a conman, let me assure you. He is the genuine article - an all-class batsman. Against Australia he also becomes the supreme batsman.
It is also interesting and enriching to observe that this quality innings came after the debacle at Melbourne where his team was defeated by 337 runs. Laxman himself got off to starts in his customary fluent manner. 26 and 42 before he gave it away there. A lot was said and written about the supposedly waning quartet that India is toting as its middle order. It was said that this is their last tour to India. And that they were all past their prime. Mysteriously some people included Kumble in their quartet and some others included Laxman. The other three - Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid - were constants. Well, Kumble showed his worth in the last Test - picking up a fiver on the first day of the first Test match at Melbourne and Laxman illuminated the already bright day today with some stroke making of the highest order. While the first effort by Kumble was in a losing cause, one hopes that this gem does not go by the wayside too. This was too good to be relegated to cricket's footnotes - reserved for innings made in losing causes.
India were put on the backfoot early on by Brett Lee who seems to have understood that it is far better to bowl with control and thought than to run in and unthinkingly hurl the ball at the batsman at maximum velocity. And this approach has won him much success in recent times - so much so that he is now the leader of the much vaunted Australian pace attack. His fast and furious outswinger put paid to Jaffer's weak defensive stroke which was played with no foot movement or weight transfer whatsoever. In walked Laxman when India were 1 down for 8 runs - perilous position. But Laxman played like only he knows how to and when he finally departed to a rare lapse in concentration, India were 3 down for 185 runs. It appeared to be no coincidence that his lapse in concentration came just after the departure of the indefatigable although slightly rusty Dravid. But to be fair to Dravid, the rust seemed to be slowly falling off as he unfurled shot after shot out of his long memory. But there was no mistaking whose show it was - it was VVS Laxman, the batting prism's show. Laxman today brought India back from the doldrums and has provided it with a real chance to make a match of it.
India may not be able to guarantee a consistent position for him in the Test squad. He may not be able to make it to India's ODI squad. And he is not even thought to be good enough to make a squad of 40 players when the probables for the domestic Challengers Trophy are selected. And he may well be the first man marked out when talk of dropping somebody comes up. But he will continue to remain a terror to the Australian bowlers albeit one they will remember with a smile when their playing days are over. And he will continue to hold a special position in the hearts of cricket lovers all over the world - even Australia. Maybe because they too share his likes - the colour green and the Kangaroos.
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