A Very Void Send-off to a Very Very Special Player

Yet another clue for the next generation taking over and yet another clue for the empty talent cupboards. With another great test cricketer retiring, India now has a bigger challenge in front.

VVS Laxman. The name says it all. He has nothing left to prove. But still a successful retirement and a successful send-off would have always been a better choice but alas, the weight of his retirement words were bigger. We respect your decision and a better farewell note to such a dedicated cricketer will be ‘you never failed to impress’.

The greatest come-back innings takes the center stage when talking of this man. Now, India has triple centurions. India may also develop and boast of player’s who scored 400 in an innings. But everytime that 281 will be set as bench mark.

A test icon, an anchor, a match winner, a player who approaches anything with confidence, a great stroke-maker, player who guides the tail, a graceful batsman, a player with spectacular hand-eye co-ordination and one who even made rule-books a re-visit (rule of the runners). All said, Laxman has never been the same in limited over’s games. Failing consistently made him lose his place and thereby, withdraw from the contest of becoming a legend.

A batsman with Vigour, a player with Valour and a Sinuous cricketer, Laxman may not have played a world cup, was not athletic and has minimal foot work. But yet he did what was destined – batsman. Laxman has played his part better than anyone during his stint with Team India . His part was primarily an anchor. Laxman is a slow but steady batsman who doesn’t have much variety. But then not many had mastered his wristy strokes. Being a great batsman doesn’t come without someone’s help in a team sport. Laxman has lended a similar support to other batsman and even more when he is in the slips.

More than Laxman’s retirement, the focus shifts on where India will be at the end of the home stint. India is yet to fill the void created by Anil Kumble. Four years hence, India now has 4 voids, each bigger than the other, to fill. Harbhajan Singh was supposed to take over from Kumble; Yuvraj Singh from Ganguly; Cheteshwar Pujara from Dravid. Where are those replacements? No answers yet. Now where do we search for another Laxman?

When Laxman said ‘I retire from international cricket with immediate effect’, a gentle breeze may have swept across the next visiting Australian team and a bit of gasp in the cricket fraternit,y but not for many in the country. Everyone now has just one person in mind. Sachin Tendulkar. Many might be telling ‘No Sachin. Not you too please’ and a very few might voice the critics- ‘ it’s time for the last of the Fab 5’. Even in retirement, Laxman is overshadowed by Tendulkar.

Laxman retires in solitude, in void, leaving the challenge to fill a void which can even swallow the team’s greatest of performance’s.

The ‘Fab 5’ is now down to ‘The Fabulous One’.