Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman – the genius, the builder and the artist

Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman – the genius, the builder and the artist

by Dileep Premachandran - guardian.co.uk, Friday 15 July 2011 12.42 BST

It is hard to think of three batting contemporaries who have had such an impact on a nation's cricket fortunes as this trio of Indian superstars about to face England

Since the three Ws played a pivotal role in West Indies's emergence as a cricket power, it is hard to think of three batting contemporaries who have had such an impact on a nation's cricket fortunes as India's middle order. They have been slotted into boxes that they each dislike – the genius, the builder and the artist – but for 15 years, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman have been united by a common purpose.

When Laxman made his debut in November 1996, India were far from being cricket's pre-eminent power. Hard to beat on spin-friendly surfaces at home, they were soft touches away, a fact amply illustrated in the Boxing Day Test of 1996, when South Africa skittled them for 100 and 66 in Durban. India had produced great batsmen before them, most notably Sunil Gavaskar and the two Vijays, Merchant and Hazare. But away from home comforts, their task usually involved digging trenches and saving face.

The numbers are revealing. Half the nation's 110 Test wins have come in the period after Laxman's debut. Before then, India had won 13 of 139 Tests overseas. Since, they have triumphed in 24 of 83. In the last decade, when they came into their own, they have won more (22) than they have lost (19) away.

As they take guard in England for the last time as a group, they remain a fascinating study in contrasts. Tendulkar was the prodigy who took the elevator while the others climbed the stairs, to paraphrase a lovely Vinod Kambli quote about the man he once shared a world-record partnership with. By the time Dravid and Sourav Ganguly made their debuts at Lord's in the summer of 1996, he had played 39 Tests, scoring nine centuries along the way.

Born within two years of each other, Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman belonged to the 1983 generation, the chosen few from among thousands of boys who took to bat and ball in earnest once Kapil Dev's unfancied team pulled off one of the great sporting upsets in the World Cup final at Lord's. India in those days was nothing like what it has become post-economic liberalisation. If you came from middle-class families, like the three did, pursuing a career in sport was frowned upon. You were encouraged to study hard and then take up a job that guaranteed financial security. In the mid-1980s, you had to be a household name such as Sunil Gavaskar or Kapil Dev to make decent money from cricket.

If you were a teenager then, life after school invariably involved some sort of sport. There were no PlayStations, trips to McDonald's or the other little luxuries that children from fairly well-to-do families can take for granted now. Dravid grew up in a quiet residential suburb of Bangalore, where the roads became temporary pitches every evening. Laxman had his first lessons at his grandmother's house, guided by his uncle and older brother. Tendulkar, a John McEnroe wannabe as a small boy, played most of his early cricket on the grounds of the small housing society where his father, a poet, had been given an apartment.

Their career trajectories were very different too. Tendulkar arrived like a meteor, one of those once-in-a-lifetime prodigies who actually lived up to the hype. He made a century on his first-class debut and was considered unlucky not to make the tour of the Caribbean when still just 16. Less than a year later, he did play against Pakistan, showing great maturity in tackling a bowling line-up that could boast of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. He was still only 17 when he made his first Test hundred, a match-saving 119 at Old Trafford in the summer of 1990.

As an 18-year-old in Australia in 1991-92, he had scored a sublime hundred at Sydney and a courageous one on a Perth trampoline where most of his team-mates froze. Peter Roebuck was moved to say later: "Between them, those two innings expressed Tendulkar. The rest has been a struggle as genius wrestled with adulthood." There have been rough patches since, but for the most part, his 22-year-long career has been a remarkably rare example of performance matching sky-high expectation.

Dravid made his first-class debut a few months after Tendulkar's first Test century. Laxman, who seriously contemplated following his parents into the medical field, waited another two years to test the waters. Both made steady rather than spectacular progress and were well accustomed to the cut and thrust of the domestic game by the time the national cap came their way.

Dravid made 95 on debut and a superb 148 at the Wanderers not long after but was not always a composed and assured figure in those early years, when his stolid style and sedate scoring invited a fair bit of criticism. He reinvented himself enough to score a dazzling 153 at Taunton during the 1999 World Cup, but the label of being an old-fashioned type of player never quite went away.

Laxman's plight was worse. With no middle-order spot available, he often had to open the batting. There were times when it came off, as during a glorious 167 against Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Brett Lee at the SCG in January 2000, but there came a point when he decided that he had had enough, that if the selectors wanted him to play, they would have to find a spot in the middle for him.

In his first 20 Tests, Laxman averaged 27. Then came Eden Gardens and that famous 376-run partnership with Dravid, Indian cricket's equivalent of the parting of the Red Sea . Both men built on that success in the years that followed. Between then and 2006, Dravid was consistency personified. In England in 2002 and Australia a year later, he scored more than 600 runs in a Test series. He, Tendulkar and Ganguly were instrumental in the Headingley victory of 2002, and in Steve Waugh's farewell series 18 months later, the trio along with Laxman and Virender Sehwag aggregated more than 2,000 runs.

With John Wright as coach and Ganguly as captain, India started to hold their own in alien conditions. Victory in Pakistan for the first time (in 2004) was the pinnacle of that era, but once Wright gave way to Greg Chappell, the scenario changed.

Ganguly was dropped, Laxman's dodgy knees were held against him and while Tendulkar struggled with a shoulder problem that eventually needed surgery, Dravid's form dipped with the cares of captaincy. On the tour of England in 2007, there were no hundreds, even though Ganguly and Laxman averaged 50. Dravid managed just 126 runs, while Tendulkar departed with two half-centuries. Few imagined that they would be back.

But under Gary Kirsten, each man found inspiration in different ways. Dravid scored a career-saving century against England at Mohali (2008), while Tendulkar put together the most prolific year of his career in 2010. Both have superb records against England, but not one of Laxman's 16 centuries has come against them. The Australia-slayer is most at ease on fast and bouncy pitches, but the horizontal deviation that typifies most English surfaces has frequently been his undoing. That said, he has enjoyed two of the best years of his career, battling crippling back problems to script epic victories against Sri Lanka, Australia and South Africa in the last 12 months.

Their departure, and Father Time's tap on the shoulder could come soon, will not mean the panic button for Indian cricket but it may be a while before the middle order has such a monolithic feel to it. Dravid's solidity and powers of concentration, Laxman's gift for charting a course out of a crisis and Tendulkar's uncanny ability to seek out pastures new have not just inspired Indian cricket's greatest moments. They have acted as a spur to a generation. When Virat Kohli spoke emotionally after the World Cup final of Tendulkar having carried Indian cricket for two decades, he could have been talking of Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly and Anil Kumble as well.

Like the three Ws – Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Clyde Walcott and Sir Everton Weekes, who made their debuts within a month of each other in 1948 – they have achieved all this without the clash of egos that can often tear a team of big personalities apart. There is no mistaking the mutual regard. After a pristine 178 from Laxman at Sydney in 2004, Tendulkar (who made 241) said: "I certainly wasn't going to try what he was doing, because he was in such great touch."

While they have not yet revealed an exit plan, it is fairly certain that cricket lovers in England will not see them together once this summer is over. With more than 35,000 Test runs and 99 centuries between them, they have helped define Indian cricket's most successful era. And all this while proving that the adage about nice guys finishing last is just nonsense.

V V S Laxman’s Stumping by C S Baugh– Absurd and not in the True Spirit of the Game

http://youtu.be/wUHF3nNikFU

V V S Laxman’s dismissal in the 3rd Test between India and West Indies being played at Dominica, is absurd, unfortunate and the worst use to which technology has been put to use till date in Cricket.

VVS is on the back foot; he has left the ball and was in the process of getting back to preparing to face the next ball. In that process he slightly lifted his back foot. Laxman was clearly not off balance. The ball was dead as far as the batsman was concerned. Surprisingly the leg umpire referred this to the third umpire even as Laxman and the bowler were wondering what it is all about. In the first place it is ridiculous for the wicket keeper to stump a batsman even as he is preparing to face the next ball.

Even after a technical debate if opinions are expressed that the ball was still in play, circumstantial evidence and replays would clearly show that the batsman was in the process of readying himself to play the next ball. It’s also unfair and not in the spirit of the game for the wicket keeper to have stumped and appealed. When does one see a wicket keeper stump a batsman whose back foot is well inside the crease? The glee and celebration by the West Indians team after getting a positive decision was totally uncalled for. They need to hang their heads in shame and take a leaf out of the great sportsmen spirit displayed by players like Courtney Walsh, who even in a crucial world cup match refused to run out a batsmen clearly out of his ground. What a shame to the game of cricket. A game considered as played by Gentlemen is again tarnished and Laxman who is known to be a true gentleman is now the victim.

Extremely unfortunate since Laxman was clearly focused and would have scored many more runs. He very closely missed hitting two centuries in the previous test match and has now missed out on another opportunity to get a big score.

 

I haven’t seen a better listener – Reminiscences of  V V S Laxman’s Early Cricketing Days.

A Proud Uncle after the monumental 281 Runs



Childhood Coaches at St John's Coaching Foundation



Back from Practice with Aunt & little cousin Rama



Practicing & Saint Johns Coaching Camp



With Brother Rama Krishna & nephews Naren & Rama Krishna in Shyam Vihar

With Brother Rama Krishna in Shyam Vihar

 

With young cousin Karthik

Listening to Ian Chappell

My late father R Ramananda Rao garu was a sportsman and represented Madras Presidency College and Madras Law College in Tennis. He also loved Cricket and my first introduction to the game was his tuning to the radio to listen to commentary on BBC & Radio Australia. My first major impact was G R Viswanath scoring a century on debut against Australia at Kanpur. When we as a family relocated to Hyderabad in 1973/74, my father who was then the Vice President of the Andhra Pradesh Sports Council joined me in the cricket coaching camp at Gymkhana grounds Secunderabad. I was coached by Mr. A R Bhupathy a brilliant and highly respected coach. From the time Laxman was born – in 1974 – and till around 1979, I played league and college cricket. During this period, after returning from practice in the mornings, I used to spend long hours in the back yard doing shadow practice and wall knocking with a tennis ball. Laxman used to come crawling to the door and watch me do the knocking and shadow practice and I still remember his bright smiling face. He simply loved what he saw. In my opinion, that was his first introduction to the game.



We had a cemented front yard at our home “Shyam Vihar” where I used to play cricket with friends, cricketing colleagues and my nephews – Lakshmi Narayana , Ram Pratap , Naren & Ramakrishna. As they grew up, Laxman and his elder brother Rama Krishna started playing with us and very soon it became a regular affair, whenever they came home during the weekends or during summer vacation. Laxman’s father Dr V Shantaram (my brother in law) was himself a good leg spin bowler, who could give the ball quite a tweak. One thing differentiated Laxman from the rest of us – His natural ability to quickly pick the ball and hit it on the up. He loved the game too much, had an uncanny hand eye co-ordination and a natural flair and style. We all used to love watching these natural skills of his and I used to tell my sister “He will become a great player”. I also wanted him to quickly go for coaching since he had the skills and capability to make it really big in the game. However since they used to live at Nampally, Abid Road in Hyderabad it wasn’t happening. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that he had to wait a little longer and gain more maturity as a natural cricketer before going to a coaching camp.

The St Johns Coaching academy was founded in the year 1987 by former Indian Cricketer and Hyderabad State Captain M V Narasimha Rao and was located at St Johns school playground located just next to my house in East Marredpally, Secunderabad. My cricketing colleague V Manohar (Hyderabad Ranji Player) was one of the coaches. John Manoj (currently heads the foundation) and Jyothi Prasad (An excellent seam bowler who played for Hyderabad in Ranji Trophy) were the other coaches. I asked Laxman to come over and took him to join the camp on the very first day. One of the coaches asked him to hold the bat and take stance. He then commented that Laxman had a faulty grip. I retorted by asking the coach to watch him bat and told him he was very talented and gifted. After an hour I went back to the camp and the same coach told me “He is very talented”. All the coaches at the camp loved Laxman and Laxman never missed out on practice, travelling all the way from Nampally, Hyderabad by bus. I used to go over to the camp quite often to watch Laxman bat in the nets. During weekends and vacation, Laxman used to come home and we used to play.

When he was young, Laxman was more compact, stylish and beautiful to watch compared to later period when he grew tall and started to crouch in his stance. He has always been a player who blossoms the longer he stays in the middle and his foot work gradually improves. He plays seven shots exceptionally well - the Straight drive, On Drive, Off Drive, Cover Drive, Flick off the toes, Pull and Back foot punch through the covers. With that kind of repertoire and the patience to stay and play long innings, he was cut out for big scores and I was always confident that he would score a triple century in test cricket.

It was February 15th 1987 when I got married and we were all at Tirumala (where I got married). It was also a very important day for Laxman since he scored his first century (153 Runs) against Andhra in the Nutrine under 13 tournament played at Vijayawada. On 16th Morning, we were delighted to read the news.

A stint in the Bradford League, Yorkshire did a world of good for Laxman. Late Phil Carigg, who captained Yorkshire recognized Laxman’s immense potential and worked closely with him during the league matches and practice sessions. He also took good care of him off the field making Laxman’s stay in England happy, homely and enjoyable. When Laxman was returning, Phil Carigg wrote a detailed note for Laxman to follow through as a cricketer. At the national front, the first coach to recognize his talent was Sandeep Patil, under whose guidance Laxman played brilliantly in two Under 19 Series, one against England (in England) and the other against Australia (in India). The Laxman of yore scored a century hitting some 16 blistering boundaries in the first match against the English under 19 side.

An incident that I recall is the Official India Cricket shirt gifted to Laxman by Md Azharuddin. Azhar was captaining Hyderabad in a Ranji match against Andhra and after watching Laxman score a brilliant century gifted the shirt the following morning. That evening Laxman showed me the shirt and wanted to know what Azhar meant by giving the shirt since he cannot wear it. I clarified that “Azhar is confident you will play for India very soon and this is how he is encouraging you and telling you that you have the capability and competency to play for India”. Many people feel Azhar had a tremendous impact and influence on Laxman’s game and his wristy shots on the onside are a resultant outcome. Not true! Laxman always played those shots from childhood. if at all, it’s the “Marredpally” affect. Marredpally is where Laxman learnt his game and Marredpally is where M L Jaisimha lived. If there was any influence, it was Azhar’s discipline in fielding, complete commitment to the game and stress on physical fitness that made an impact on Laxman.

Laxman also had the opportunity to work on his game with M L Jaisimha. The Original and the Real life Stylish Hyderabadi was appointed to coach Hyderabad Ranji team and Laxman was his “Arjuna”. Apart from guiding him in the long net sessions, Jai also spent substantial time discussing the game with Laxman. I remember bumping into Jaisimha in the Secunderabad Club and anxiously enquiring about Laxman.Pat came the reply “Never ever worry about Laxman, he is too good”…

Over the years, Laxman’s methods of batting have changed and it is unfortunate that Laxman felt his stroke repertoire insufficient to score quickly in ODI's. Earlier I had never seen him loft the ball. He would settle down and play copy book cricket. Of course he was wristy and played a lot of his shots between Mid-on and Square leg. But after playing in ODI’s he started lofting the ball, playing more in the gully area, trying to play streaky shots through the slip cordon, and thereby playing away from the body. This doesn’t mean it affected his batting but sometimes, for instance during the series in Zimbabwe in 2001, I sensed he was playing too many shots too early in the innings and was unable to get big scores.

At the end of the series in New Zealand (2002), we did a mid-career SWOT analysis and found that Laxman needed to work more on his defense. When he goes into a Test match, quite often the bowler doesn’t have to earn his wicket. Laxman was getting out playing a loose shot. Slowly but surely Laxman has revived the quality of patience in his game and has become consistent in the later phase of his cricketing career.

Laxman’s career has seen a number of peaks and valleys – He started as middle order batsmen and then was asked if he would open the batting in West Indies. Shivlal Yadav was on the Selection committee.I was in Chennai when Laxman called to discuss this.  I asked him to go ahead, since he was an excellent player of fast bowling and was going in at number 3 for Hyderabad. He agreed to open, but he was never comfortable opening the batting and every time he failed, the bogey was raised that he wasn’t an opening batsmen. He was dropped frequently based on a few bad performances. But the number of come backs he made surprises me.

What I always saw and liked in Laxman was his tremendous patience and perseverance, and listening to good advice. I have not come across a better listener and you will hear the same observation from his coaches. He is very meticulous in his practice sessions. He works very hard on his physical fitness. I try telling him that he has enough strengths which he should focus upon, but he is always concerned about some issue or the other pertaining to his game and will not leave that challenge unresolved. Most importantly he never gave up!

In public Laxman comes across as an unruffled stoic character, but there have been times when I have seen him disturbed. For example after the 167 in Sydney, he played just one more test before he was shown the door. He then had to take a decision whether to open or bat in the middle order. But telling the management that he wouldn’t open when there was an impregnable middle order required conviction and Laxman did that successfully. He went back to Ranji trophy scored over 1400 runs (ten centuries in ten innings) and found his way back into the test side. Even then during the Australian series in 2001 after he failed in the first test at Mumbai, couple of test cricketers tried convincing him to open the batting. He flatly refused and what followed in Eden gardens is unparalleled in cricketing history.

Laxman’s most disappointing moment was his being dropped from the world cup squad in 2003. Agreed, that it was a bad tour for him in New Zealand. So was it for most others. When the news of the World Cup Team flashed on the screen, I sent him a message from my mobile, asking him not to get disappointed and there would be greater opportunities coming his way in the future. Little did I know that Laxman was unaware of his missing the bus. A response came back immediately “AM I DROPPED FROM THE TEAM ?” The messages that criss crossed subsequently are still vivid in my memory. He was extremely upset and disappointed.

Laxman has come a long way from 1991-92. He was on the fringe of making it to India under 19 side, when he had to take the vital decision to choose cricket as a career over medicine. He missed making it to the under 19 tour of South Africa the previous year and at the same time scored around 95% marks in the XII grade exams. I managed to convince my Brother in Law who took the difficult decision to give him some more time to prove himself in the game. Immediately thereafter Laxman performed exceptionally well in the India Colts tour to England. The team coach cum manager, Sandeep Patil ticked Laxman as “one for the future”. He was soon selected to represent the Hyderabad Ranji Side. There was no looking back from then on. However, the Up’s and down’s in Laxman’s career caused great concern for me and I used to visit temples and perform prayers for his success. Only after his 281 against Australia did things settle down to certain extent.

Professor D L N Murthy an eminent astrologer from Secunderabad and my/ my late father’s personal astrologer always predicted that Laxman’s chart had planetary combinations that ensure his success and he would play the game for a long period at the highest level. I first showed his chart in 1991 when a decision had to be taken about his continuing to play the game at the cost of a career in Medicine. Professor Murthy was puzzled when he saw Laxman's chart and asked a few questions trying to figure out what exactly Laxman was doing in Life. When I responded in the negative to his questions, he  asked me "Is he a sportsman". When I said yes, he assured me that he will succeed with a very long career. Murthy garu always told me, that Laxman would do well when the team really required him to perform, when most of the others would fail and when things looked bleak and impossible for the Team. Three days before Laxman scored his 281 runs in Kolkata, Professor Murthy predicted that Laxman will do something amazing in that test and create a huge record. 

Laxman is blessed by Shirdi Sai Baba with the qualities of indomitable “Patience” & “Perseverance”. He reads Sai Satcharita regularly and usually visits Shirdi before and/or after a Test Series. He helped me produce two Shirdi Sai Devotional albums - "Sai Sudha & Sai Bodha"

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the coaches, influencers, guides and supporters of Laxman. In particular John Manoj of St Johns Coaching Camp (who always stood by me and Laxman in those early turbulent days) Sandeep Patil, Late Phil Carigg and Late M L Jaisimha. Very Very Special Laxman has made us all proud for being associated with him and I wish him all the Very best and God Speed in his future endeavors.