Personally,I was sick of constantly seeing him bat against us

Laxman always seemed to lift his game against us. And we as a bowling attack always had to work real hard to get him out. Our attack always suited him,and more often than not he was aware of our plans against him. No wonder he foiled them on so often.

Laxman was very much like Azharuddin in his style of batting. And he could use those wrists to hit any ball in that arc between fine-leg and mid-on with ease. He could manoeuvre any ball towards the onside with minimum fuss.

Initially our plan against VVS was to bowl outside off-stump and get him to drive away from his body off the front-foot. We knew how much he loved hitting on the leg-side,and our strategy was to dry him up outside the off-stump. We always had slips in place but like we all know this strategy didn’t quite work to plan very often. Laxman was a very determined fellow,and a tough,tough competitor. Whatever we tried,he seemed to get on top during that wonderful phase he had between 2001 and 2004 — both in India and in Australia.

When we came back to India in 2004 — the series where we finally won — we had gotten together and consciously changed our tactics against Laxman. We decided to bowl at his strengths!

We started bowling much straighter to him,and always had a couple of catchers close on the leg-side. Two mid-wickets at times. Our plan was to attack Laxman’s stumps and either get him caught close or hope that he misses the ball and we hit his stumps or his pads. Though he didn’t miss the ball too often,we did have slightly more success against VVS on that tour.

But no tactic whatsoever seemed to work on that famous day at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Easily one of the best innings I have ever seen. That day we threw everything we had at him. I remember bowling a lengthy spell from around the wicket,trying to tuck him up. Well,not with much success. Honestly,we bowled out of our skins,but there was no way of getting past VVS. Warnie,I thought,bowled extremely well on that Kolkata wicket,but I recall him being quite helpless against Laxman.

Warnie was bowling around the wicket into the rough,and Laxman jumped out of his crease and flicked a ball through mid-wicket for four. The next delivery,which landed on the same spot,Laxman jumped out again and hit Warnie inside-out over the covers for four. There was little we could do but stand and applaud that great knock. Even our distraction strategies of using Matthew Hayden and Michael Slater didn’t quite work. He just hit us to all parts of the Eden Gardens. Laxman was easily better than the collective lot of us that day. And I still shudder to see those highlights of his 281 now.

His strength was he played the ball so late,and watched it onto the bat till the last moment. That gave him the ability to play any ball onto the onside. That made bowling to him a great challenge. The margin for error while bowling to him was so minimal.

I did get him a couple of times in Test matches,but those were after he had scored a lot of runs already. But I didn’t quite mind it even then.

Laxman was such a nice and humble guy,we actually found it a tad difficult to get under his skin. He never spoke a word and let his bat do the talking always. My personal strategy was to say as little as possible to him,except the odd word or two,because that only made him more determined and focused. You never could unsettle VVS Laxman while he was in the middle. We hardly ever managed to do that. He was so disciplined in his approach both on and off the field. And as a bowler your only chance for success was to be equally disciplined with your line and length.

I have known Laxman for a long time now. We played a lot against each other during our under-19 days. Both in the Youth Tests and a few tour games in between those matches. And trust me,he made a lot of runs against me and Australia even then. A trend that would continue for another 15 years on the biggest stage of them all.

Did I ever think back then that he would turn into such a scourge for us? Well probably not but you could make out that you were witnessing a special talent. We had a very good bowling attack then,which included Brett Lee but Laxman stood apart from the rest in that series itself. He had genuine class and you knew he was destined to have a great career in the years to come. And I’m really glad that he has indeed had such a ‘special’ career and has made India proud.

Laxman was among the nicest men I have ever met in international cricket,a lovely guy and someone who played the game hard but fair. Always played it the right way. It’s unfortunate that he was hampered by injuries towards the end of his career. Now I hope to come across VVS someday in a veteran’s match and get the better off him.

It’s high time that happens.

(As told to Bharat Sundaresan)