Over the past few years VVS has built up the type of fighting reputation that even the most ardent of Sachin Tendulkar fans will wish their hero had accumulated. Time after time, with the team in strife, the genial Hyderabadi with the steely resolve of a gunslinger has bailed the Indian team out. Like any other mortal, he has had his share of failures, but more often than not when the chips are down the reassuring sight of Laxman signalling the end of another over with his curious habit of repeatedly tapping his bat inside the crease is a welcome one.
Yesterday, he produced his latest magnus opus, an inning of 96 precious runs that took an Indian lead of 115 when he came to bat into a potentially match-winning one of 302 runs. On-air, much was made of the fact that he has (now) 49 fifties against only 16 centuries. I kept yelling at the screen asking them to see how many of those 50's came with only the tail for company. But none of the talking heads (and one screaming head - Ravi Shastri) picked up on it even as the latest example was being played out in front of their eyes.
So, I went and did some statistical analysis of my own using the StatsGuru function on CricInfo. Counting this inning, Laxman's fifties have been broken down into groups based on which wicket fell when he got out. Here are the numbers:
1st wicket: 4 times
2nd wicket: 1 time
3rd wicket: 3 times
4th wicket: 5 times
5th wicket: 9 times
6th wicket: 1 time
7th wicket: 3 times
8th wicket: 4 times
9th wicket: 3 times
10th wicket: 5 times
Not out when team was all-out: 6 times
Not out when team was not all-out: 5 times
Summary: He has been one of the first 5 wickets to fall 22 times (these are the times when, presumably, he still had a specialist top order batsman for company after reaching 50 and should not have had any problems converting it to a 100). He has remained not out in an inning when the team was not all-out 5 times (note that on one of the occasions, he was 73* when 9 wickets were down and Indian beat Australia in Mohali earlier this year).
He has been wicket #6-10 (and/or not out when the team is all-out) a whopping 22 times. In fact, no less than 14 times he was either wicket number 9,10 or not out at the end of the inning, so most of these 50's were made with lower order batsmen for company.
For more than half his 50+ scoring innings he has been scoring runs with less-accomplished batsman at the other end. We can parse this information further and talk about what-ifs all day long, but in the end one thing comes clear. Laxman should not be judged too harshly for his poor 50 to 100 conversion rate.
Here's another reason why: in his first-class career where he has mostly batted at #3 or #4, if you remove his Test numbers, he has scored 37 centuries and 40 fifties, including two triple centuries. That is a seriously good conversion rate for anyone.
India does not play Tests for a few months after this series. When they resume, the batting order may be different, but one thing will stay the same - when in crisis, look no further than the man with the widest grin and steeliest of resolves - Very Very Special Laxman.
P.S.: You must read Siddharth Monga's CricInfo piece on VVS Laxman in the wake of his latest rescue act. Beautiful writing by an increasingly-accomplished writer. (CricInfo is in good hands if it keeps unearthing writers like him).
Typically Laxman just praised Zaheer Khan and Cheteshwar Pujara for hanging around with him, not a word about his own innings, only about partnerships. On the surface, Laxman didn't answer the actual question. If you go deeper, he did. He makes the other batsmen feel good, comfortable and calm. Not just the man who is batting with him, but also the ones waiting their turn in the dressing room. When Zaheer Khan came out today and played a few rash shots early on in his innings, Laxman didn't come charging at him with instructions. He understands that tailenders don't fancy hanging in for long against bouncers on a spicy pitch.
Nor do the in-and-out fields fluster Laxman. He still has the gift of placement to keep finding the boundary. Today, after the punches and even an upper-cut, he also pulled out the paddle-sweep, a shot he doesn't often play. There was the disappointment of missing the century, for he doesn't have one in this country at all. That he looked a bit hurried in trying to get to that mark, with No. 11 for company, showed he is human too. However, if this innings results in a series-levelling win, the half-century won't be forgotten as easily as many of his other similar efforts with the tail have been.
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