VVS Laxman, the God of fourth innings turns 42

Former Indian Test cricketer VVS Laxman shall be celebrating his fourty second birthday on November 1.

Laxman was born on Ist November 1974 in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana) to Dr. Shantaram and Dr. Satyabhama of Vijayawada-Guntur. Both his parents were noted physicians.

Laxman did his schooling at Little Flower High School, Hyderabad. He then enrolled as a medical student but chose cricket as a career over medicine.

Laxman was a prolific scorer in domestic cricket, before being called up to play for the Test team. Laxman had some brilliant seasons with Hyderabad and was known for scoring big double centuries. He made his Test debut against South Africa at Ahmedabad in 1996 where he scored a fifty in the second innings.

He was in and out of the Indian Test side till he announced himself on the big stage  by scoring a plethora of runs in the 2001 Ind-Australia series.

He was the backbone of the Indian middle order in the so- called 'Golden Era of Indian cricket' under the aegis of Saurav Ganguly. It is creditable that Laxman build up a reputation of his own among legends of the game in Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag.

Laxman had the knack of batting with the tail enders and played many a match-saving knocks to bail Indian out of danger of defeat. Laxman always reserved the best against the formidable Aussies and proved to be a thorn in their flesh whenever India took on them.

VVS LAXMAN - INDIA’S SAVIOUR IN THE LONGER FORMAT

Over the years, Indian batsmen have left an impregnable mark in the world of cricket with their flamboyant and stroke play. While some batting maestros have known to be sublime stroke makers like Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly, some have been known for their destructive prowess like Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh and some were technical genius with rock solid defences like Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid.

But if one were to rate a batsman on sheer finesse and class, VVS Laxman would stand tall among the best in the world. VVS Laxman was the heir apparent to his state mate and Indian captain Mohammad Azharrudin. Laxman created a niche for himself courtesy his wristy and elegant stroke play. Laxman wielded magic with had those silken touches which helped him maneuverer the red cherry to any part of the turf he wanted.

Laxman was not a blatant hitter of the ball but was a master of caressing it through the cricket field.He can be clubbed into the category of like Hashim Amla, Mark Waugh and who made batting look effortless. When Laxman was in full flow with his exquisite range of stroke play, it was one of the best sights to watch in Test cricket.

Laxman's moment under the sun came when he perhaps played one of the best Test innings of all time to turnaround the fortunes of a test match against the then mighty Aussies. Laxman scored a mammoth 281 runs in the Eden Garden Test match against Aussies which helped India win the game .

VVS Laxman -  International Cricket Record

            Matches         Runs       HS               Avg.        100s       50s

Tests     134                8781       281         45.97       17         56          
ODIs      86                 2338       131         30.76       6           10