A Very Very Special goodbye!

Numbers tell a very good story, but often leave out the most important bits. While a Test match batting average pushing 46 over a 134 match career is indeed impressive, VVS Laxman's story will never be about numbers. In the quartet that is much talked about, Laxman was the last to be anointed with greatness, almost grudgingly, as if only because a quartet would sound much cooler than a triumvirate. Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman, as he would have very very rarely been called, is looking to call it a day. It wont evoke as much emotion as probably an announcement from Sachin would. It certainly wont have the drama of Saurav's. But,   it will mark the end of a remarkable career in which he has served the Indian team with distinction.

If a career is defined only by a highlights reel, VVS would have very few peers. He has enough blockbuster innings to warrant a blog entry each and this post is not about those. It would be criminal to leave out mention of a certain 281 though. Played along with his trusted lieutenant Rahul Dravid, their backs to the wall, it was a stretched out display of lazy elegance and belligerent stroke play. Following on with a huge deficit and standing in the way of an imposing world record, it would have required talent, temperament and grit to stonewall the rampaging Australians. Did we mention the Aussies there? Aussies were his Zimbabwe. Steve Waugh would easily trade his wicket for Sachin's. However, the fact that he required Australia and strife to summon his best performances will stand in way of him being considered an all time great. So, he will end his career as a breathtakingly good batsman, just that.

VVS is from Hyderabad. He was good at studies and pulled off a juggling act, enrolling in medical college. But there came a point when he had to make a choice and he chose to follow in the footsteps of his idol Md. Azharuddin. He had the same wrists and the leg side play, if anything he was not as hurried as Azhar which added to the charm. How he manages to deposit balls well outside off to the midwicket boundary beggars belief. The nonchalance that dripped off those shots was regal. But this unbelievable leg side play came at a cost - he would never thrust his front foot down to meet the line of the ball outside off. He would end up playing back when the pundits would rather have him playing forward and would get out bowled or lbw often looking very ungainly. He would look equally ungainly anywhere in the outfield (To his credit, he grew into a very safe and one of India's most prolific slip catchers) and this along with his super lazy running between the wickets were often held against him when discussing teams for the limited over versions of the game. He will be in a rare minority of people to have played over a 100 tests and not have featured in a World cup, not even in 2003 when he was hitting something of a purple patch in ODIs. The performance of his replacement - Dinesh Mongia - did no justice to the selection.


Nothing matters more than the team for VVS. He has batted everywhere from 1 through 7. And unlike Dravid who was shuffled around because the team needed him somewhere, Laxman was shuffled around because he was the easiest to shuffle. In the epochal DLF IPL 2008, he was named an icon player of the Deccan Chargers who by way of classification was assured a hefty amount in the bank. He relinquished the position so his team would have a bigger purse for the auction. How cool! Add the Indian subtext of ego and selfishness. How amazingly cool! Naysayers might opine that he was being realistic about his worth. But then, that should have been even more reason for him to make the most while he could. The same passion for team excellence could be seen when the usually calm and reserved VVS was seen brandishing a bat and hurling abuses at Pragyan Ojha, anxious to secure what would be a nail biting victory over the Aussies at Mohali. He had a very bad back to boot.

Another retirement and slowly one of the last players that I grew up watching before realizing that cricket was just a sport after all, is leaving the scene. Along with Kumble, Dravid and Sachin, Laxman brought a gentlemanly touch to the sport. Very few people would have had such long careers with the sword always hanging on their necks. He was the least indispensable of India's batting heroes. But he was unique. His style of play or even his temperament. When in a hole, Sachin digs himself deeper, Dravid holds an end up, but Laxman counterattacks and with some style. As he leaves, he wont be missed - at least not as badly as a Dravid or a Sachin and therein lies the beauty. He did extraordinary things without promising them. Goodbye Padma Shri VVS!