V. V. S. Laxman

V. V. S. Laxman BIODATA

Personal information
Full name	Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman
Born	1 November 1974 (1974-11-01) (age 37) Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Nickname	Very Very Special
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm off spin
International information
National side	India
Test debut (cap 209)	20 November 1996 v South Africa
Last Test	3 Jan - 6 Jan 2012 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 112)	9 April 1998 v Zimbabwe
Last ODI	3 December 2006 v South Africa
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1992 – present	Hyderabad
2007, 2009	Lancashire (squad no. 5, 26)
2008–2010	Deccan Chargers
2011	Kochi Tuskers Kerala
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	132	86	262	173
Runs scored	8697	2,338	19,368	5,078
Batting average	46.50	30.76	51.92	34.54
100s/50s	17/55	6/10	54/96	9/28
Top score	281	131	353	131
Balls bowled	324	42	1,835	698
Wickets	2	0	22	8
Bowling average	63.00	–	34.27	68.50
5 wickets in innings	0	0	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	n/a	0	n/a
Best bowling	1/2	0/5	3/11	2/42
Catches/stumpings	133/–	39/–	274/1	74/–
Source: espncricinfo, 6 Jan 2012

Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman (Hindi: वी वी एस लक्ष्मण Telugu: వంగిపురపు వెంకట సాయి లక్ష్మణ్)  pronunciation (help·info) (born 1 November 1974), sometimes shortened to Venkatsai Laxman but generally known as V.V.S. Laxman, is an Indian cricketer. Laxman represents Hyderabad in domestic cricket and has played for Lancashire in English county cricket. Laxman is the great grand nephew of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, former President of India. He was the captain of the Deccan Chargers team in the Indian Premier League in its first year before being replaced by Adam Gilchrist for the next year. In 2011, Laxman was awarded the Padma Shri award, India's fourth highest civilian award from the Government of India.
Laxman bats right-handed and occasionally bowls off-spin. He is noted for his superb timing and the ability to hit against the spin, reminiscent of his role model Mohammed Azharuddin. Laxman is particularly noted for the skilful use of his supple wrists, which allow him to flick the ball to various places, but usually through the leg side. This also helps in his catching, and he typically fields in the slips or in a bat pad position.
Laxman is noted most for his batting against Australia, in both tests and one day internationals. As of February 2010, he has scored 6 out of his 16 test hundreds, and 4 out of his 6 ODI hundreds against Australia. He has two double-centuries in tests, both of them against Australia: his personal best of 281 at Kolkata in 2000–01, and 200* at Feroz Shah Kotla in 2008–09.

Contents  [hide]  1 Personal life 2 Playing style 3 Career 3.1 Early career 3.2 Australia's tour of India 3.3 Decline of form 3.4 Return to form 4 Quotes 5 Achievements 5.1 Batting Achievements 5.1.1 Test Cricket 5.1.2 Man-of-the-match awards (Test matches) 5.1.3 Man-of-the-series awards (Test match series) 5.1.4 ODI performance 5.1.5 Man-of-the-match awards (ODIs) 5.1.6 Other Batting Achievements 5.2 Fielding Achievements 6 References 7 External l

Personal life

Laxman was born into a Niyogi brahmin family,^[1] in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. Laxman's parents, Shantaram and Satyabhama are doctors.^[2] Laxman studied at Little Flower High School, Hyderabad. He then enrolled as a medical student but chose cricket over a career in medicine. He married G. R. Sailaja from Guntur, who is a post-graduate in computer applications on 16 February 2004.^[2]

Playing style

Laxman is known for his "wristy, willowy and sinuous" style, one which is technically fluid at its best. Laxman's on-side playing capability is comparable with his idol Mohammed Azharuddin's. The Australians once admitted that they did not know where to bowl to him.^[3]

Early career

Laxman made his Test debut in 1996 against South Africa at Ahmedabad, scoring a fifty in the second innings of the match. However, he was unable to cement his place in a star-studded Indian middle order. Instead, he was asked to open the innings, starting in South Africa in 1997. Laxman intermittently continued in this role for nearly three years, but without any consistent success. In January 2000, he was picked up in the Indian squad for the Australian tour and made 167 in the third and final test at Sydney, a rare high point for India in an otherwise disastrous tour. Despite this success against an attack containing both Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, Laxman apparently decided that he would return to domestic cricket, rather than continue playing as opener, a role which he believed did not suit him. As a result, Laxman was out of the Test team for nearly a year. He was recalled in late 2000, and also found a spot in the side for the home series against Australia in 2001. Laxman is widely criticized as a slow runner between the wickets and he is one of the few players who have played 100 Tests but have never played in the Cricket World Cup.

[edit] Australia's tour of India

Laxman's career changed dramatically in the home series against Australia. In the first Test at Mumbai, Laxman made 20 and 12, as the entire Indian batting line-up, with the exception of Sachin Tendulkar, capitulated, leading to a 10-wicket defeat. This was Australia's 16th consecutive Test win and extended their own world record. In the next Test, however, Laxman shot to fame with an extraordinary knock of 281 in the second innings (following on) against Australia at Eden Gardens, when under tremendous pressure and with Australia looking set for a crushing 17th win in a row, he broke Sunil Gavaskar's long standing Indian Test record score of 236*.^[4] This remained the highest ever by an Indian until it was eclipsed by Virender Sehwag's triple ton against Pakistan in Multan in March 2004. The innings also contributed to a record partnership of 376 with Rahul Dravid who made 180 and together they survived the whole 4th day. Laxman's performance was of enormous consequence: India had been on the brink of an innings defeat but went on to win the Test and the series, denying Steve Waugh conquest of the "final frontier". This was only the third time in the history of cricket that a team had managed to win a Test after being forced to follow on. It has become one of the most celebrated tales of Indian cricket, and the innings is ranked the sixth best Test innings ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.^[5] At the time, the pitch was taking significant turn, and to negate Laxman's free scoring, Australian leg spinner Shane Warne pitched his deliveries into the footmarks outside leg stump. However, such was Laxman's play that he consistently drove the ball through long on for boundaries against the spin, something that is considered to be technically dangerous. When Warne attempted to stop Laxman from scoring by defensively stationing most of the fielders on the leg side (leg theory) and bowling outside leg stump, Laxman proceeded to skip down the pitch and drive Warne inside-out through the vacant off side, hitting through the line of a substantially turning ball. Warne later admitted that he was clueless as to how to stop Laxman.
Laxman then cemented his place both in the Test and one day teams for a few years. He has continued to perform well against Australia, especially during India's tour of Australia in 2003–04, in which he hit three ODI and two Test centuries. One of his centuries, his 148 in the second Test at Adelaide, came in a triple century partnership with Dravid. India won the Test, which was their first Test victory in Australia in two decades. His innings 178 at Sydney also came in a triple century partnership, on this occasion with Sachin Tendulkar. For this reason, Ian Chappell described him as Very Very Special Laxman.