Australia never sledged me, says VVS Laxman at his autobiography launch

It is said VVS Laxman is to Australia what Sunil Gavaskar was to the Windies. Just as the Little Master’s world-conquering play against the mighty Caribbeans made him a popular man in the islands, Laxman’s rise to the occasion against the champions of his era – Australia – more than once earned him the nickname “Very Very Special” Laxman among the opponent ranks.

He was asked about his famed rivalry with the Australians by anchor Harsha Bhogle, a cricket expert, on the evening which saw the launch of his autobiography ‘281 And Beyond’ co-authored with senior sports journalist R Kaushik. Bhogle asked him while the Australians were always a lot that were aggressive and hard-hitting, the stylish former Hyderabadi batsman remained the exact opposite.

“Everytime they sledged you, did you recite a shloka to them?” Bhogle asked Laxman with a pinch of humour. To Bhogle’s likening his composure with “listening to the 12th chapter of the Bhagwad Gita” in the face of the Aussies’ aggression, the 44-year-old former cricketer said: “The 12th chapter of Bhagwad Gita says if someone is abusing you or praising you, you have to be equanimous. If Australians are abusing you, you have to be equanimous.”

He then added that the Baggy Greens never sledged him, adding that they did not do so perhaps because they knew that it would not affect him.

Former great Sachin Tendulkar who once shared the dressing room with Laxman and was present on the occasion said nobody ever sledged Laxman.

Our best came out against top performers like Australia

Laxman then said the best of him and the entire team came out against the Australians because the way they played the game. He said it was the Indian team which had challenged the Australians the most than any other side in the age of their invincibility with the exception of the historic Ashes of 2005 which England won on their home soil.

Six of Laxman’s 17 hundreds in Tests came against Australia with the highest being the epic 281 at the Eden Gardens in 2001 that saw India winning the match despite following on. Before that, Laxman’s counter-attacking 167 in Sydney in the 1999-2000 tour had first brought him into reckoning in a series that was otherwise a disaster for India. He followed these innings with a 148 in Adelaide and 178 in Sydney in the 2003-04 tour and a 200 not out in Delhi in 2008-09.

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