A VVS story!!. Review on V V S Laxman

VVS?..

Bus Naam Hee Kaaafi Hai!

Not many would know his full name stand for Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman.

I remember seeing him for the first time when he played against the Proteas way back in 1996 when he scored a handful in the first test and was immediately noticed for his wristy batting and elegant shots.

We must understand one thing for sure. Not many players are as talented as Sachin Tendulkar and also stay in the team right from the onset. This was the problem with Saurav (remember 1992 tour to Aussies and then he was in sidelines till Lord?s 1996 happened) and even for that matter Rahul Dravid (he was called as the stroke less wonder). The very same problem happened to VVS too as he was someone who showed brilliance but only in patches but we all know how the selection system in our country works.

He was shuffling in and out of the team for a long time and then was selected for the Australian tour of 1999-2000 under the captaincy of Sachin.

It was a lovely winter morning when we all sat only to witness another usual batting collapse at the Sydney and by that time we had lost the series but still we as Indians will go just to watch our stars even when they fail miserably.

in walks VVS and scripts a timeless century in front of the dumb struck Aussies who just were made to run all over the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) and though India managed to lose the match and the series VVS?s innings was noticed not only by the Aussie press but our selectors too took notice of it.

As mentioned earlier the rough patch in VVS career again emerged and time again we saw him getting sidelined and a year later the Steve?s bunch of world beaters arrived in India and conquered Mumbai within 3 days and Saurav was left wondering where he went wrong and a week later Steve had almost erected his Aussie flag at the Eden Gardens when our Mr. Style (VVS) and Mr. Wall spoiled the party by scripting yet another glorious partnership which just showed the class of both these batsmen and we all must understand that playing in such huge partnership is not as easy as it looks on the TV screen.

He has a special affection and affinity for the Aussies and every time he sees their sight he just gives his best and this series probably was one of the few series where he has not been able to convert his starts into big scores. The moment he fails in one innings there is talk of the complacency and his flawed techniques and god knows what not?

I tell you all, every player in this world goes through lean patch and probably even this classy player is going through one and yeah there is this strange thing in Indian cricket team that if one batsmen fails every one fails and this normally cannot be said when we win, we rarely win because of a collective effort from all the 11 members of the team and not even 7 or 8.

It is time that we judge our cricket players more on their overall performance rather than their current series performance. And moreover the selectors must understand that the player selected should be given enough opportunities before commenting on anything about his caliber or technique.

I only hope that VVS scores that much waited long innings which we all have got accustomed to.

As our captain always points out, ?VVS is just one innings away from Form?.