VVS Laxman Profile by CricketArchive

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Player:

VVS Laxman

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DateLine: 5th June 2008

 

Wristy stroke play and sublime shots are what best describe the way this master Hyderabadi batsman plays his cricket. He has a special liking towards the Australian bowling attacks, cracking up a fantastic 281 against Steve Waugh’s team in Kolkata in 2001 to turn the test match and the series on its head. Then he went Down Under in 2003-04 and such was his form that the Aussies didn’t know where to bowl at him. He continued in the same vein against his favourite opponents when he visited again in 2007-08, so much so that he has been already offered an Australian citizenship.

 

Sometimes he can even better Tendulkar for strokeplay, while surpassing his idol Azharuddin at the same time. He is equally assured on the off-side as well as the on-side. Recently he hasn't been able to quite manage the same consistency that could have turned him into a batting great, and in between dazzling and hardworking hundreds, he has suffered frustrations of numerous twenties and thirties, and has struggled to hold his place in the one-day side. He was terribly disappointed at missing out on the World Cup in 2003 and has always expressed his displeasure about the same. Even then he has now more or less accepted that ODIs are now beyond his reach and even the test scenario is getting tougher where he is no longer an automatic choice when India decide to play five batsmen.

 

He was persuaded by the Hyderabad Deccan Chargers to captain them in the IPL and to save his franchise money in the auctions, he refused to accept the status of an ICON player.

 

He was a part of India's test series win against Australia where he ended up playing 100 test matches and his performance in Delhi where he scored an unbeaten double hundred and followed it up with consistent scores to help India regain the Border Gavaskar Trophy. He has been a perennial nemesis for Australia and his average and runs against the best team in the world is next only to the best players in the world, Lara and Sachin.