Top 5 Test run-getters for India in South Africa

#3 VVS Laxman

Laxman scored some fighting fifties on South African soil

The saviour of the middle-order, and a fighter par-excellence, Laxman was part of as many as four tours to South Africa from 1996-2001. His maiden trip to the country was hardly notable, for he got three innings to play, and was in the phase where his unsure career was in the doldrums.

By 2001, Laxman had established his reputation as a middle-order pillar and was fresh from his heroics against Australia (read 281). He missed out on a century at Port Elizabeth, playing a lone hand when none of the others managed to get even past 50.

On the 2006-07 tour, Laxman had a much more prominent role to play, and looked in good touch with back-to-back fifties at Johannesburg and Durban, but ended the series with a whimper.

On his last tour, in the twilight of his career, Laxman was supposed to hold the lower middle-order together, and responded with a classic 96 at Durban, garnering some crucial runs first with MS Dhoni and then Zaheer Khan. It was instrumental in India securing a win and leveling the series.

Tests: 10

Runs: 566

Average: 40.42

50s/100s: 4/0

Highest: 96