The slumbering beast who could do magic

There is an old story about a boy who once accidentally met God. The Almighty, that day, was on a benevolent spree, and decided to bless the boy with something special. He gave him two options to choose from. He could either choose to be the wisest man on earth, and yet be subservient to the divine all his life. Or, he could be an ordinary man who could exalt himself to be as wise as the omniscient, but only for a day. The idea of matching the divine, albeit for just a day, was just too good to pass for the boy. He chose the latter, and went on to write the history of the world in a day.

Parallels from this story can be drawn in sport as well. There are the Tendulkars, who are the greatest in this world, and there are the Laxmans, who could intermittently be more than that. They could be otherworldly. And, we simply cannot do without either.

VVS Laxman‘s career has been all about moments. Most players live for such moments, but few actually live them. When we were little, we used to picture ourselves doing unbelievable things on a cricket field – battling injuries to win matches single-handedly, batting with the tail to engineer close wins, and yes, scoring triple hundreds while following on. Laxman almost did all of those, and he should retire a contented man just for that, if for nothing else.

His heroics at Kolkata, Adelaide, Mohali, Durban have left indelible, proud memories among all Indian cricket fans. However, Laxman also played pivotal knocks that people have not really cared to remember. For its sheer symbolic and sentimental value, India’s tour of Pakistan in 2004 was nothing short of a world cup for both countries. Going into the 5^th match with the series tied 2-2, and in a format that was hardly considered his milieu, India’s perennial crisis manager scored a hundred that won India the series.

Perhaps this sums up the man’s career in a lot of ways. Being part of a batting line-up that was more star-studded than any in the world, he had to carve a niche for himself. So, like Ravana’s brother Kumbhakarna in the Ramayana, he became the slumbering beast who woke up only when those around him were vanquished. A batting average lower than that of Tendulkar, Dravid and Sehwag did not make him less desirable, and in his own way, he lent something very very special to this team. Magic.

His retirement will leave a void that will be as hard to fill as Dravid’s. But unlike in Dravid’s case, it is a lot harder to describe. What one can say for sure, is that it will need divine intervention for there to be another Laxman. Like the boy in the story, his successor will need to choose the second option.