One of the finest knocks that Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman played
was inside the conference room of the Rajiv Gandhi international stadium in
Hyderabad on August 18th. It was built with humility, power,
elegance and the usual ingredient in his innings- focus.
He announced retirement from Test cricket with immediate effect; a
declaration which came as a surprise even to the chief of selectors K.
Srikkanth. It is necessary to point out though, that this was not the farewell
the man deserved for the services he meted out to the nation for over 15 years.
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| V.V.S. Laxman- a class apart! |
A day before announcement, a national daily had reported that the
veteran player had been hurt by the recent comments in the cricketing circles about
his dip in form. However, ironically, he scored a marvellous 169 versus
Karnataka State Cricket Association President’s XI. It was obvious from the
immediacy of the decision. A newspaper rightly titled its piece on the batsman’s
retirement- ‘Retired Hurt’ and it couldn’t be more apt.
The contemplation for this decision had begun already before the
Ind-NZ series and it was expected that his home turf would witness the wristy
magician’s last walk on the cricket field. However, and as usual, he managed to
surprise. He did that in 2001 when India had almost conceded a defeat and a
resilient Laxman scored that gem of 281 to win the match. His innings of 148
versus Australia (probably overshadowed with Rahul Dravid’s 233) epitomized
fighting spirit.
He was a silent assassin for the team and set an example with his irreplaceable
determination. His hunger to play the game for the ‘team’ elevated him in the
league of the extraordinary gentlemen almost from his debut. The quality was witnessed
very differently in his match-winning innings of 73 versus Australia at Mohali
in 2010. It was a fiery innings when passion his and aggression were
particularly visible on the field. Take a look:
In a nutshell, the latter half of this decade has seen three of the
holy four cricketers hanging up boots at the right time. His last series in
Australia could be one exception in his performances- probably the time he felt
the age was catching up to him. Nevertheless, the silent hero would never be
forgotten from fans like me.
His successor S.Badrinath, who replaced him, would have a huge
responsibility to fulfill. Given his experience in mind, as a fan, I can only
hope that he could come up to the levels of the great cricketer.
Thank you VVS for all that you have done for the game. You will
surely be missed.
Pictures © Getty Images
