VVS Laxman played 134 Tests for India and is remembered above all for one innings: 281 against Australia at Eden Gardens in March 2001, made after India had been asked to follow on. A wristy, unhurried batter from Hyderabad, he had a habit of producing his best when a match looked lost, and Australia in particular saw a great deal of it.
Name: Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman | Born: 1 November 1974, Hyderabad | Sport: Cricket | Position: Right-handed middle-order batter
Hyderabad and a choice of careers
Laxman came from a family of doctors and was expected to study medicine. He chose cricket instead, and the decision looked sound from his first seasons for Hyderabad. He had the soft hands and supple wrists associated with the city’s batting tradition, and he could hit the same ball through midwicket or extra cover depending on how late he played it.
He made his Test debut against South Africa on 20 November 1996, but for several years India did not know where to bat him. He was tried as an opener, dropped, and recalled. In the 1999-2000 Ranji Trophy season he answered the selectors in the plainest way possible, scoring 1,415 runs at an average of 108 in nine matches, a season record for the competition that still stands.
Sydney, 2000
The first sign of what he could do against Australia came at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 2000. India were well beaten in the match, but Laxman, opening the batting, made 167, an innings of fast, fearless strokeplay against an attack led by Glenn McGrath. It was his first Test hundred and it earned him a longer run in the side.
The 281 at Eden Gardens
A year later Steve Waugh’s Australia arrived in India on a run of 16 consecutive Test wins and won the first Test in Mumbai easily. In the second Test in Kolkata they bowled India out cheaply and enforced the follow-on. Laxman, who had made one of the few fifties of the first innings, was moved up to number three.
On 13 March 2001 he and Rahul Dravid batted through the entire fourth day. They added 376 for the fifth wicket, Laxman went on to 281, then the highest Test score by an Indian, and India set Australia a target they could not reach. Harbhajan Singh bowled them out on the final afternoon, and India won by 171 runs. They took the series in Chennai a few days later. Laxman was named one of Wisden’s five Cricketers of the Year in 2002.
A specialist in the fourth innings
Laxman’s Test record shows 8,781 runs at 45.97, with 17 hundreds and 56 fifties, but those figures understate his value. He was often at his best when India were chasing on a wearing pitch or batting to save a match, and he was very good with the tail. The clearest example came at Mohali in October 2010. With India eight down and still well short of their target against Australia, Laxman, suffering from a back injury and batting with a runner, made 73 not out and steered India to a one-wicket win.
His one-day career was shorter. In 86 matches he scored 2,338 runs at 30.76 with six hundreds, several of them against Australia, but he was never fully trusted in the shorter format and was not part of a World Cup squad.
Leaving quietly
Laxman played his last Test in Adelaide in January 2012 and announced his retirement on 18 August that year, shortly before a home series against New Zealand. He had captained Deccan Chargers in the first season of the Indian Premier League and later played for Kochi Tuskers Kerala, then became a mentor at Sunrisers Hyderabad.
His work since has been mainly with young players. He became head of cricket at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, a role that has included coaching India Under-19 and India A sides and standing in as head coach of the senior team on several tours.
Career record and honours
- Tests: 134 matches, 8,781 runs, average 45.97, 17 hundreds, 56 fifties, highest score 281
- One-day internationals: 86 matches, 2,338 runs, average 30.76, 6 hundreds, 10 fifties, highest score 131
- 281 against Australia at Eden Gardens, 2001, and a 376-run partnership with Rahul Dravid
- 1,415 runs in the 1999-2000 Ranji Trophy season, a competition record
- 73 not out to win the Mohali Test against Australia by one wicket, 2010
- Wisden Cricketer of the Year: 2002
- Arjuna Award: 2001
- Padma Shri: 2011
