 Laxman in limbo
 V V S Laxman's name was on everyone's lips in the early nineties as the next strokemaker from Hyderabad destined to play for India.
By the time Laxman made his Test debut, he had impressed one and all in domestic cricket with his temperament and timing. In the big league of Test cricket, he continued to impress, though a couple of years down the road, he had still failed to cement his place in the team. The selectors had converted him from a middle-order batsman to an opener and this certainly cramped his style.
Even after a swashbuckling 167 at Sydney, Laxman was never comfortable opening the innings. In the early days, he tended to play across the line while playing his thrillingly wristy on-drives.
In his mammoth 281 in the 2001 Kolkata Test against Australia, Laxman amazed one and all with the transformation in his batting. He was batting much straighter and showing an enormous appetite for runs at the international level. Strokes flowed from his bat in a continuous, delightful stream almost throughout his great match-winning innings.
Laxman reminds you of other classy Hyderabad batsmen who were an aesthete's delight. He resembled Jaisimha and Azharuddin most. Jaisimha could thump the ball when the mood overtook him, but he had wrists of steel that he employed to stylish effect. Azharuddin's wristy batting style had considerable impact on Laxman's by his own admission. His offside play is so much more controlled and elegant than Azhar's whose on drives are admittedly peerless. He also hooks authoritatively unlike Azhar. And none of his predecessors could match his ability to concentrate for very long periods.
Though he has proved himself at every level, and has played the best Test innings by an Indian in the entire history of the game, Laxman, of all players, is constantly under the microscope. Today, he is once again at the crossroads, with his relative failure in Pakistan. Whenever Indian batting collapses, Laxman is the first scapegoat the selectors tend to axe. Are we going to see the last of this wonderful Hyderabad batsman this time? We should know soon.
V Ramnarayan
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