It's been 100 Tests now that VVS Laxman has been making batting look all too easy, whirring his wrists and persuading the ball through improbable arcs. Appearances can be deceptive, though, for behind that lackadaisical grace lie weeks and months of graft and practice. And for someone who makes it all look smooth sailing, his career has had more than its share of turbulence. It has been an eventful 12 years and the man himself is satisfied with how it has all shaped up. "I'm quite happy with the journey I have had. It has made me a better person," he tells Cricinfo.
A few years ago we did a cover story for our magazine on the top five Indian batsmen, where each one spoke about one of the others. Sachin Tendulkar spoke about you, and I still remember one sentence. He said, 'When Laxman bats you just stand at the other end and watch and tell yourself not to get carried away.' That's quite something coming from him.
That's a big compliment. But that's really true of each of the four of us, and [Virender] Sehwag and [Gautam] Gambhir too. When any of us is in peak form, when we are dominating batsmen, it is a treat to watch. And one thing you don't want to do is to try to emulate someone who is batting that well.
What Sachin really meant was that you can do some things that can't be emulated.
What he was probably referring to is the shots I play from outside the off stump towards leg. But then each of us has some truly special skills. That's why we have done so well at the international level. But that's a great compliment from Sachin, who has played international cricket for so many years and seen so many batsmen.
Not a lot of batsman make a living out of hitting balls from outside the off stump through midwicket. How did you learn to bat like this?
I have always done what has come naturally. I have not tried to change too many things. I have put in a lot of hard work, but I have followed what came naturally.
There are a couple of things that helped develop my game. One, the school ground. Actually it was not a ground but a small space between the buildings. We had a cement pitch and a tar road and we used play with a glazed ball. This meant the ball really skidded on to you, and it didn't bounce a lot. On those wickets, you knew what the ball was going to do, it didn't deviate much and the bounce was even. So all of us in school learnt to play a lot of on-the-rise shots.
The second thing is that in Hyderabad we had a lot of matting wickets with nice bounce. On those wickets even a decent fast bowler could get the ball to climb from a good length. So as a batsman you couldn't really commit to the front foot - you stay back and play late.
Both these factors helped me play fast bowling well. When you are playing international cricket, 75% of the time you are playing fast bowling, and I really enjoy playing fast bowling.
