His stupendous success against the strong Australian team is only
the beginning, says V V S Laxman. Promising not to be complacent, the
Hyderabad batsman, propelled to the top league after his 281 in the
memorable Kolkata Test, says, "this success of mine is only a base on
which I have to build my career".
Laxman, who topped the batting averages for India in both the Test
and one-day series, says batting at his natural number three position
made all the difference. "I was not very comfortable while opening the
innings. I always had the feeling that I was trying to do something
which I'm not really made for," the 27-year-old stylish batsman from
Hyderabad told PTI in an interview.
Before this series, Laxman was tried as an opener without much
success except for that brilliant 167 in the third Test against
Australia in Sydney during India's tour Down Under in 1999-2000. But
accepting his failures gracefully and consistently learning from his
mistakes is what has characterised Laxman and kept him going.
His hard work paid off when he was able to score prolifically in
the one-dayers too capping it with his maiden century. "I am very
happy with the century but I would have been happier had we won (the
fifth one-dayer and the series). It was a difficult wicket to bat and
I proved that I had the stuff to bat in one-dayers too," he said.
Laxman had struggled in the one-dayers scoring just 86 runs from
13 earlier matches and admitted having his past failures at the
back of his mind while going to bat against the Aussies. "I tried to
push it (the failures) back and work for a better score," said Laxman
who aggregated 281 runs in the five match series at an average of
56.20.
The maturing of Laxman has not come a minute too early for the
Indian team which depended too heavily on Sachin Tendulkar. And it
involved deep commitment, lot of hard work and immense doggedness from
the youngster who was dubbed the King of Domestic Cricket with a shade of
malice. Big scores in domestic cricket had almost become a habit for
the shy and lanky Laxman who had absolutely no idea of competitive
cricket till he was selected for a coaching camp as a 11-year-old boy.
He timed his arrival in the big league to perfection and against a
side which many believed was invincible carrying as it did a world
record winning streak of 16 Test matches.
It was not only the batting order but many other things too that
played a role in Laxman's blossoming as the new Mr Dependable of
the Indian team. "The computer analysis of every ball we played, during
the post-match sessions, helped me a lot to know my strengths and
weaknesses," he said while crediting coach John Wright with giving the
right advice and keeping faith in him. "By telling
me how good a player I was, his assurance gave me the confidence I
needed at that time."
And of course, there was the inspiration from his parents and
other family members. Laxman greatly cherishes the three dictums of
'self-belief, fearlessness and positive approach' inculcated in him by
his father. All those teachings have kept him in good stead and his
tidy and compact drawing room is now full of mementos, flowers and
bouquets among photographs of Sai Baba and Lord Ganesha.
Laxman, in his early days, worshipped Sunil Gavaskar, Mohammed
Azharuddin and Vivian Richards, all batsmen of very different styles.
"I liked Gavaskar for his temperament and patience, Azhar for his
wristy play and Richards for his domination." Among his current
favourites are Tendulkar and Mark Waugh. "It is delightful to watch
him (Tendulkar) play and he tries to be as perfect as possible. Next
is Mark Waugh and I like him for his elegance." Among bowlers, he
rates Wasim Akram of Pakistan as the best and back home it is Javagal
Srinath, Anil Kumble and his Hyderabad teammates Venkatpathy Raju and
Kanwaljit Singh who command his maximum respect.
Having raised the expectations of a billion people, Laxman
realises his future is going to be tougher. And one of the things he
would surely like to work on is his running between the wickets. He
got into mix-ups on many an occasion during the series against
the Aussies which resulted in his or his partners' dismissals at
crucial junctures.
His next Test series would be on the forthcoming tour of Zimbabwe in
May-June, followed by another series in Sri Lanka. Laxman says he would be
concentrating harder on his game in order to give his best.
Currently he is working on his fitness levels too. "I'll try to bat as
well as I did over the last few weeks in the upcoming Zimbabwe series,"
Laxman says.