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In a cricketing theatre filled with casts boasting big centuries and ten-fors, there is space for cameos that add to the story’s fun. The fans remember some of these cameos more than many centuries, like the one Ajay Jadeja played against Pakistan in the 1996 World Cup.
Apart from match-winning cameos, there are many contextless batting or bowling performances that fans remember for their sheer mercurial brilliance. In our collective memories is one such cameo that VVS Laxman played at Bloemfontein in 2001. Many commentators reckon that it is the best 32 ever made by a batter!
Soon after that magnificent 2001 series win against Australia, India visited Zimbabwe and South Africa for Tests and ODIs. In those days, an Indian Test tour to South Africa was rarely competitive. After seeing VVS Laxman’s rise and Rahul Dravid’s resurgence during the Australia series, Indians hoped for a better show on those fast and bouncy pitches in South Africa.
VVS Laxman. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
The first test in Bloemfontein got off to the customary start, with India losing its opening batter, Rahul Dravid, in single digits. VVS Laxman walked in to face the South African quicks on a nippy track with some early seam movement. Shaun Pollock, Nantie Hayward, Makhaya Ntini and Jacques Kallis were the bowlers VVS had to handle on this pitch. Indians remembered the stroke-filled hundred that Laxman scored in Sydney a few months before against the brilliant Aussies and hoped for a repeat of that innings.
South African quicks bowled short of the good length to the Indian batters, testing their backfoot play. VVS Laxman got behind Shaun Pollock’s two shortish deliveries and defended them solidly off the back foot. Shaun repeated the same length off the third ball, which Laxman punched off the backfoot to score a couple of runs. In those three deliveries, Laxman showed the South African captain that he is exceptionally comfortable off the back foot.
However, Pollock decided to continue to the short ball test. A few deliveries later, Pollock delivered yet another ball short of a length but a bit wider of the off stump. VVS moved his right leg back and across and square-cut the ball to the boundary. Pollock should have received his message that you don’t bowl that shortish length to Laxman.
In his next over, however, Pollock continued to bowl short of a length. This time, too, VVS moved back and punched the ball to the cover boundary. In the next ball, Pollock bowled a bit fuller, but Laxman used the bounce on the pitch to punch the ball off his backfoot through the covers for a couple of runs.
Geoffrey Boycott, on air, chided Pollock for persisting on the shortish length and asked him in his Yorkshire accent to “see if he can play off the front foooot”. However, Pollock would have nothing to do with that advice. He delivered a rank short ball that bounced to the height of Laxman’s ribs. VVS swivelled on his back foot and pulled the ball to deep square leg for a six. Upon watching this action, Geoffrey commented that Pollock was bowling like his Aunty after she had too much Sherry to drink.
After Pollock, it was Nantie Hayward’s turn to try his assortment of short balls on Laxman. Hayward bowled a short ball on the off stump, which rose only to the height of Laxman’s stomach. VVS lent back to stand his full height and pulled the ball in front of square leg for a four. The shot had a touch of disdain as to say to the bowler that you don’t bowl to me there. By this time, Boycott was exasperated.
Shaun Pollock. (Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)
Jacques Kallis came into the attack. Geoffrey hoped for something better from the master all-rounder. Kallis bowled a full delivery that swung away a touch, inviting Laxman to play a front-foot drive, which Geoffrey had ordered. VVS obliged, moved his left foot forward, not quite to the pitch of the delivery, but drove the ball a bit uppishly through the cover for a three. VVS’s message was clear; he would play his shots and thrill the audience. One is unsure of the audience; however, Harsha Bhogle was thrilled because he said so on air.
Hayward continued to bowl his “roobish” short balls at Laxman in the next over. VVS punched off the backfoot through the covers for a boundary this time. That shot was reminiscent of the backfoot punches the Indian audience had grown accustomed to from Sachin Tendulkar’s bat. This innings from Laxman looked like it would take them back to that magnificent stroke-filled partnership between Sachin and Mohammad Azharuddin in Cape Town. One has not seen such pristine batting against South Africa until this innings from Laxman. However, the joy of the Indian viewers was to be short-lived.
Hayward delivered yet another “roobish” short delivery down the leg side to Laxman. Laxman went for his pull shot but only got a faint bottom edge. The wicketkeeper, Mark Boucher, took the catch and cut short a beautiful exhibition of batting. Harsha exclaimed that “a beautiful flower has been nipped in the bud”. During those 30 balls VVS faced that day, he middled everything but one. The backfoot punches on the offside and those majestic pulls to the leg side were sumptuous treats for the connoisseurs of the batting art. VVS hit four fours and one six, each deserving a paean.
Even though VVS only scored 32 runs in this innings, the streets know it was worth a century.
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