[ad_1]
The best thing about Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman was that they scored against the best attacks during their time. Tendulkar, Dravid, Sehwag and Laxman had great numbers against Australia, Pakistan, England and South Africa to some extent. But even they had their favorites among them. And there are no prizes to guess which bowling attack was the most enjoyed by VVS Laxman. Of all his cunning innings, those impressive punches on Day 4, most came against Australia. That’s why there was no surprise when Brett Lee singled out Laxman for praise.
Former Australian player Lee, who is still considered to be one of the fastest bowlers to have played the game, had many memorable battles against Laxman. And on most occasions, Laxman emerged at the top, earning a great deal of respect not just from Lee but from almost every Australian player of the time.
Also read | If I hit for an hour, you’ll see a big question: how Dravid spelled doom for Pak
“It was very difficult to overcome his technique, a beautiful technique, he was not afraid of the ball, he had a lot of time and a great movement of the foot,” Lee said in Star Sports “Cricket Connected”.
Laxman had staggering numbers against Australia. He scored 2,434 runs at an average of 49.61 in 29 tests against the Australians that included six centuries and a memorable 281 at Kolkata that helped India win the test match after granting the follow-up in 2001.
His numbers against Australia at ODI weren’t that bad, either. In fact, four out of six ODI hundreds came against Australians. He scored 733 runs at an average of 46.18 in 21 games against Australia.
Also read | I was comparing him to McGrath, Akram: Razzaq by calling Bumrah ‘baby bowler’
Explaining Laxman’s greatness, Lee, who collected 310 wickets in 76 Tests and 380 wickets in 220 ODI, said the Hyderabad hitter had a certain cheekiness in his batting, making it more difficult for bowlers.
“I had that cheeky of him and that cheeky on a hitter is difficult sometimes because when they are cheeky and in the song, they don’t care who is bowling at what rate, they will get over it and make you pay. And it hurts AND VVS had the ability of knowing when a person is about to overcome his spell. He would overcome the difficult time and then collect when necessary. It was a lot of fun playing against him, “Lee said.
In addition to his best mark of 281 at Kolkata, Laxman had played a brilliant 143-run innings against Australia in Adelaide in 2003 when after coming in at bat when India 85-for-4, chasing Australia’s whopping 556 innings total.
Rahul Dravid had scored 233 in the same innings and India won that match to level the series.
