Whatever be the reason, the decision has been made.
With the departure of Dravid and Laxman in quick succession, Indian cricket has perhaps forever lost the perusal of mathematical arguments, grammatical structures and study of art in batsmanship. Only the epics still persist in the course through Sachin Tendulkar’s timeless march, the classical pages already soiled by the traditional Indian venom that spews forth from the undeserving.
While the memories are full of collages of joyful colour, most of them crystallised under severe heat and pressure, the innings that will forever be inseparable from Laxman is the 281-run epic at Eden Gardens, 2001. It changed not only the course of the match, but also that of history – of Indian cricket as well as his personal career.
From that miracle Test match onwards, Laxman has scored 7,915 runs at 49.77 in 114 Tests. The figures demonstrate what his career has been all about. Flirtation with greatness with his esoteric wafts of the willow, while managing to remain a joy to behold forever – each movement at the wicket an act of unsurpassed beauty.
It is this unique amalgam that emerges once in a rare generation, and will remain a gaping chasm ever after for all those who have been blessed to watch him bat.
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