Kolkata, Feb 13 (Inditop.com) With their middle order collapsing like a pack of cards in the first cricket Test against South Africa, the Indian team management seems to be pinning a lot of hope on the fit-again V.V.S.Laxman to deliver at his favourite Eden Gardens in the second Test here starting Sunday.
The stylish right hander from Hyderabad suffered a split webbing on his left hand while going for a catch in the first Test against Bangladesh at Chittagong in January and missed two Tests – at Dhaka and Nagpur – since.
With Rahul Dravid still out of action with a fractured jaw, the 35 plus Laxman’s importance in the side has increased manifold, especially after the sordid middle order tragedy in Nagpur. Going great guns at 192/3 in the first essay, the hosts lost the remaining seven batsmen in a heap with the addition of only 41 runs on the board.
The hosts never really recovered from the first innings debacle, and in the latter essay, none of the willowers except centurion Sachin Tendulkar could reach the 50 mark as South Africa won by an innings and six runs.
With the rocket-fast Dale Steyn firing on all cylinders with deadly inswingers coming from just outside the off stump, the inexperience of the Indian middle order, added to a poor show from the otherwise reliable Gautam Gambhir, seemed to spell India’s doom at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.
It is in this scenario that Laxman’s vast experience could be like Aladdin’s magic lamp to India, who badly need to win the second Test to retain their position as the world’s top Test team.
The sublime touch artist, one may recall, made mincemeat of the Australian pace battery in the 2003-04 series Down Under, cracking two tons and stitching together a back-from-the-dead, match-winning, 300-plus partnership with Dravid at Adelaide.
Coupled with that, Laxman’s awesome record at the Eden is bound to be a cause of concern for the tourists, eyeing to dislodge India from the top Test rank with a series win.
In eight Tests at the venue, Laxman has amassed 898 runs at a Bradmanesque average of 81.63, with three tons and a 95, besides two more 50 plus knocks, mostly scored in his trademark style.
The epic 281 in the March 2001 Test against Australia, that propelled India to a fairy-tale win from a once hopeless situation, has become a part of the nation’s cricketing folklore.
An authoritative innings of 154 not out against the Carl Hooper led West Indies the very next year and another unconquered 112 opposite arch-rivals Pakistan in 2007, have made Laxman a darling of the passionate Eden crowd.
But before all these heroics, the gentleman-cricketer had a heartbreak of sorts against Mark Taylor’s team in 1998, when he perished to a behind the wicket catch only five runs short of a well-deserved hundred.
The immensely gifted player has been often criticised for his inconsistency in the middle. But Eden Gardens is one ground where opponents have found him consistently unstoppable. India will hope he continues in that vein.
