One Paced, Unfazed n Very Very Special - Laxman

He plays just one way. Ufazed by the situation, indifferent of the requirement.

When others are not performing he looks good, because whatever it is that is bothering others doesn’t affect him. He is VVS. He is a class act. But he is one dimensional. He can do only what he does, nothing else. Don’t ask him to play faster or slower. You can only ask him to play. That’s why when team is in good position, the conditions are right and player are all scoring quickly he looks like dragging his feet. Looks more so in ODIs. His inadequacy first became clearly evident in Sharjah during Coca-Cola Cup-1978. After Tendulkar got out having insured our entry in the finals, he came in and even though he was playing as specialist batsmen in team he just dragged and played for time. India lost that match. He didn’t do the needful. He just played. Many such incidents afterwards left him looking bad, more than anything else because everybody else was looking good. When situations demand him to change his game he calls it quit or falls trying to do so.

Having said that, with so much of stillness and cool in his game he has an amazing calming effect which can be felt especially when he enters an iffy situation. He is able to build useful partnerships with tale-enders for this reason. A class act he plays in any condition with utmost ease. Against fast bowlers you would often see him play without elbow pads. Very wristy like Azhar, he makes fast bowling look like kids play. Devine timing with which he scores those boundries can baffle any fast bowler and spinners- they dont bother him at all. Azhar, however, had other dimensions to his game too. May be he will develop those dimensions in his game himself once he is sure of his role in the team and the management has made its peace with facts like he is not an opener.