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How do you rate players like VVS Laxman?

karan_fromthestands

State Captain
By players "like" Laxman, I mean the ones who deliver more often in unfavourable conditions and crunch situations and don't make the most of their opportunities in average games.

Laxman's name doesn't even come up when people pick India's ATG Test XI, but his best performances have always come when the batting is in deep crisis or the conditions are totally in favour of the bowlers. I mean he succeeds where most(or all) others would fail. All great players make others around them look a little ordinary, but with Laxman, it was slightly different, he generally looked lesser than the batters around him, but he would just turn it around in games that are really tough, or almost impossible to win.

For example his contribution in India's victory over SA in Durban.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...frica-vs-india-2nd-test-463147/full-scorecard

While the other batsmen from both sides were highly uncomfortable batting on that wicket, Laxman looked totally at home. This is a top quality innings that rarely gets discussed.

I am not saying that VVS was better or less talented in comparison with X or Y player, but it's really difficult to rate players like him and it's a shame that his name doesn't pop up much when we talk about great players. The easier way to judge him is to look at his stats and say that there are better records, but his contributions have been way more than what you see on paper.
 

trundler

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ATVG is the standard ranking I believe. Also, I think most people will have him as the #6 in an all time Indian XI.
 

karan_fromthestands

State Captain
ATVG is the standard ranking I believe. Also, I think most people will have him as the #6 in an all time Indian XI.
He is not picked in All Time Test XIs by most ex-cricketers/journos that I've seen. And looking at the amount of impactful innings that he has played, IMO he is an ATG. Can totally understand if others feel differently about this.
 

Starfighter

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Well the one series I saw Laxman in he batted like a number 12 and scored about as many runs, so I'll say 'not high'.
 

cnerd123

likes this
ATGs - players with great overall numbers and near perfect record across conditions/opponents, consistent performances in both high pressure scenarios and downhill skiing, long careers with a good body of work

ATVGs - players with great overall numbers that have some flaws (like being a HTB or downhill skier), or with less than great numbers but extremely consistent, players of great innings who didn't always click

Laxman falls in the latter, but does make my India ATG XI.
 

jimmy101

Cricketer Of The Year
My thoughts on VVS?

I always considered him to be very, very special. He was visibly, vastly superior to most others. At times a vicious velocity speedster with a volcanic vortex of skill at his disposal. Verifiably vaunted & saluted as a valuable, vigorous soldier, & a virtuous voice of sanity who was versatile at various specialities.
 

Coronis

International Coach
A good batsman who could play absolutely exceptional innings if the situation required it. If he’d played at a different time in Indian cricket, perhaps he would have had more opportunities to show that off. I think he’d still have a very strong case for an all time Indian XI atm, shouldnt it be something like

Gavaskar
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Kohli
Laxman

as the top order?
 

cnerd123

likes this
Gavaskar | Sehwag | Dravid | Tendulkar | VVS | MSD*+ | Dev/Mankad | 4 bowlers depending on conditions

Jadeja in with a shout for that number 7 position if he keeps his current form up

VVS is my first choice for 5 mainly due to personal preference. I also really am a fan of Tiger Pataudi at 5 and as captain, because I don't rate MSD as a test captain and I really really rate Pataudi. But I can see the arguments for several other players. India's blessed with batting riches.
 

srbhkshk

International Captain
Gavaskar | Sehwag | Dravid | Tendulkar | VVS | MSD*+ | Dev/Mankad | 4 bowlers depending on conditions

Jadeja in with a shout for that number 7 position if he keeps his current form up

VVS is my first choice for 5 mainly due to personal preference. I also really am a fan of Tiger Pataudi at 5 and as captain, because I don't rate MSD as a test captain and I really really rate Pataudi. But I can see the arguments for several other players. India's blessed with batting riches.
Surely Kohli gets in somewhere?
 

Senile Sentry

International Debutant
I loved the guy, and if I were Indian he'd be one of my favourite players ever, but he didn't average sub-50 for no reason. His stunningly beautiful technique was back-foot heavy, which became a pretty big problem when quicks were getting a lot of lateral movement. ATVG is fair.
To be fair, Laxman was really shite from his debut in 1996 till 1999 - first 16 tesrs he averaged only 24 with zero hundreds.

Then the Sydney New Year test.of 2000 happened, and he made that superlative 167. In the next 118 tests, he made 8155 runs at nearly 50 average.

His average in the so called SENA countries was a respectable 42.3 in the same period.
 

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