Very, Very Special: An Appreciation of VVS Laxman – Spectator Blogs

And then there was one.  Of the four princes who made India the world’s best side to watch in the first decade of the 21st century, only Sachin Tendulkar – the first and greatest of them – remains. Saurav Ganguly, the tiger of Bengal, was first to leave the arena. Rahul Dravid, the classicist, departed last year. Now Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman, the most artistic member of India’s most formidable quartet, has announced his retirement from international cricket.

As Cardus (who else?) wrote of Ranji, Laxman distributed his runs as largesse delivered in silk purses. If he could not claim Ranji’s aristocratic lineage, he was still, even in his own time, something of a throwback to an earlier age. As the son of Hyderabad doctors, Laxman comes from the middle-class’s upper ranks and even in the modern era elites still run to batsmanship more than bowling.

By the second half of his career, Laxman had become a test specialist.