Hail the immortal : Laxman is India's Greatest second inning player and the ultimate Oz Slayer

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India’s Man-Friday Ever since he made his Test match debut, VVS Laxman has always been the crisis man for Team India. More... Wednesday 10th November 2010 India’s Man-Friday to the rescue again Ever since he made his Test match debut, VVS Laxman has always been the crisis man for Team India. By Abhideep Das During the just concluded first Test vs New Zealand at Ahmedabad, the stylish Hyderabadi rescued India from the doldrums yet again. The hosts were staring at a shock defeat with the score reading 15/5 in the second innings when Laxman joined forces with MS Dhoni. However the 36-year-old, first in the company of the skipper and later Harbhajan Singh, saved India the blushes with his innings of 91. India’s ascent to the number-one spot in Test matches has often been credited to the exploits of people like Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar with the bat. While the contribution of these two men is unquestionable, Laxman in the company of the lower middle order and the tail-enders has played some pivotal knocks time and again in the second innings of a game. While they may not be big hundreds, the worth of these runs are priceless. In his debut Test against South Africa at Ahmedabad in 1996, the Hyderabadi scored 51 in the company of the lower middle batsmen to help India post a competitive target. The Proteas were then blown away by a magical spell from Javagal Srinath to make it a memorable first Test for Laxman. His next major knock was against his favourite rivals Australia in 2000. While Laxman’s stupendous 167 in the second essay could not save the Indians from an innings defeat at Sydney, nonetheless his ability to shepherd the innings with the tail got noticed. The ‘Very Very Special’ innings of 281 at Kolkata in 2001 against the Aussies is now part of cricketing folklore. But equally important was his knock of 66 in the fourth innings of the series-deciding match at Chennai. India did not have a great reputation back then of being good chasers and the team went through some anxious moments before finally reaching the victory target of 155. There have been some other notable innings as well. His 74 at Port-of-Spain against the West Indies in 2002 is a case in point. It helped India win by 37 runs to record their first Test victory on Caribbean soil in more than 26 years. He played a match-saving knock of unbeaten 154 against the same opposition later that year at his favourite Eden Gardens, Kolkata. No wonder Laxman is one of those rare Indian batsmen who plays better in the team’s second innings. He averages 50.29 as compared to 48.65 in the first innings. Interestingly, in the fourth innings of a match, his average goes up by a notch to 51.37. But, it is perhaps in the last couple of years that Laxman’s true value has been realised by selectors and fans alike. Whether it is knock of 79 in the company of RP Singh and Ishant Sharma in the famous 2008 Perth win or his gritty match-saving century against the Kiwis at Napier in March 2009, the contributions stand out. His unbeaten match-winning 73 with only No.10 and 11 for company at Mohali against Australia recently is another glorious chapter in the batsman’s illustrious career. Not to forget his 16th Test ton at the P Sara Oval, Colombo to help India level the series against Sri Lanka in August this year. The statistics tell the entire story. In 42 Test wins that Laxman has been a part of, his average is 53. This goes up to a mind-boggling 63 in 41 drawn encounters that the Hyderabadi has featured in. It comes as no surprise then that whenever India lose a game, Laxman’s average comes tumbling down to 28. If ever there is an award for the ‘Most Valuable Player’ over a period of 10 years, Laxman would definitely be a strong contender for the same.

[dain45yl]

I can't believe what Laxman has done here- he's taken India out of the jaws of defeat two matches running with 103* and 73*, the second time with a bad back and against overwhelming odds. Man of steel!

[pensionplan]

I can't believe what Laxman has done here- he's taken India out of the jaws of defeat two matches running with 103* and 73*' date=' the second time with a bad back and against overwhelming odds. Man of steel![/quote']Yes VVS is an amazing batsman the best in India's history when the chips are down. It is no accident he is playing such knocks. Throughout his career he is the fall guy. It is a blasphemy that Ganguly was batted higher up the order than this great batsman when Ganguly was part of the team. Then if you add the needless shunting up and down the order he had to face the first 3-4 years of his career we are looking at what could have been had he been treated on par with someone like a Dravid from the get go. 11k or 12k career perhaps statisticallly speaking. Ofcourse stats never do tell the whole story thankfully. When one closely studies VVS's entire career people will rank him alongside the likes of SRT and Lara in terms of sheer class and ability to play all types of bowling and in all conditions with ease and dominate them. Let us hope he can make up some lost ground in the final years of his career, numbers wise as well.