10 things you might not know about VVS Laxman
Despite being so classical in style and artistically sound in technique, Laxman was an under rated batsman in a star-studded batting order, but eventually ended up as someone who overly achieved in terms of his contributions towards the winning cause of the team. He had developed the art of creating milestones that were not just memorable but were also historically important for the team.The path he chose towards greatness, however, is starkly different from the ones his teammates took - having to bide his time in sporting mediocrity for many long years, excelling in studies. As a result, not as much is known about VVS as about the other greats to have been worshipped as part of the ‘Fab 5’.Did you know that Laxman hails from the family of one of India’s Presidents? That, and some other facts about this national hero you might not have known:
#1 He did not play a single World Cup
Despite being a decent ODI batsman with more than 2000 runs and 6 centuries against his name, VVS Laxman was never considered for a 50-over World Cup squad by the national selectors. His best chance to make it there came prior to the 2003 World Cup, however, in a last minute change, Dinesh Mongia was included in the squad at the expense of Laxman.
The stylish Hyderabadi batsman considers this incident as the lowest point of his glittering career and to add to it, even then captain Sourav Ganguly regrets not having picked him and admits that it was a huge mistake.