Whatever happened to Yuvraj’s test and Laxman’s one-day career!!!

Laxman and Yuvraj are undoubtedly two of the most talented cricketers India has ever produced. If one is amongst the toughest nuts to crack when the chips are down in the test arena, the other makes sure that India doesn’t lose a limited over match as long as he is out there in the middle. Yet, both have a common regret in their careers, that of not being considered good enough for both the formats.

Laxman-Yuvraj in Sydney

As ironic as it is, a super-brilliant batsman of the calibre of Laxman, notwithstanding his phenomenal success in the longer format of the game over a decade, shall never get to play for India in a world cup match, a dream he had nurtured right from the day he had held a cricket bat in his hand. On the other hand, an extremely gifted and highly regarded batsman like Yuvraj, who can send down a few scares to any bowler when on crease, could never cement his place in the longer version of the game, something that is regarded as the ultimate goal of any cricketer. Certainly some bitterness to carry at the end of your cricketing career!

Now, before analyzing the reason, we will have to counter the argument that their individual games don’t suit both the formats. I would defy anybody who says Laxman was not good enough a batsman for the shorter version (one-day matches at least), due to his strike rate, for the simple reason that he was(is) a much more positive player compared to Dravid, who has managed to accumulate in excess of ten thousand runs under his belt in the limited over international matches. Not only that, Laxman was a much more free-flowing batsman and with the kind of wrist work that he possesses, he had got a much better chance of piercing the field as against Dravid at any point of time. He also has six one day hundreds to his credit, most of which he had scored under trying circumstances against the best of bowlers. A phenomenal bowler like Brett Lee pays him this tribute, “I have been playing against Laxman since my under-16 days and nothing has changed. He used to smash me then, and he smashes me even now all over the park.” Steve Waugh paid him yet another after the breath-taking Sydney hundred, “This has been the most blazing stroke-play I have seen in a long long time.” Even though the later  was a test knock, our focus is on the kind of shots that Laxman can play, which makes him an excellent top order player even in one-day matches. And Cricinfo editor Sambit Bal rightly points out that Laxman is the only player who has the ability to play the same ball on either side of the wicket in a manner that would make you believe that there could not be a better shot than what you just saw. So it’s not his game for sure, it has to be something else.

Similarly, if Sehwag can be a phenomenal success in the test arena defying all the logic of technique, foot work or the so called traditional wear-down-the-bowler-over-time strategy, why can’t Yuvraj replicate the same? Again it’s not Yuvraj’s game that is holding him back. What’s it then? Read on, and in case you have another point of view, please put that down here at the end of this post. 

VVS Laxman

Laxman’s lack of success in the shorter format of the game is largely due to his inconsistency in the initial years of his career. He was one batsman who would score heavily in a series and would not go beyond a quick 20 or 30 in another. He never looked out of touch mind you, but more often than not, would play a careless shot and gift away his wicket, at time over doing it beyond the tolerance level of the spectators and selectors alike. His fitness too was not up to the mark those days. The selectors were running out of patience with him, and as it turned out, Laxman’s loss indirectly proved Dravid’s gain. After being kept away from the limited over matches for a good year and a half as punishment due to his over defensive approach, Dravid was kind of cementing his place at number five as a make-shift wicket keeper batsman, and following his phenomenal success against Australia in both form of the game, Laxman was given yet another opportunity to bat at the number three slot. But after playing a few mind-blowing knocks yet again his inconsistency got the better of him. Eventually, he lost out his place in the 2003 world cup squad to Dinesh Mongia, whose only claim to fame was a 150-odd against a lowly Zimbabwe attack. With his kind of limited ability, Dinesh was never going to be in the side for long, and his departure brought Dravid back to the number three slot, which he grabbed with both hands. And with the consistency Dravid showed thereafter, it was hard to dislodge him from there. Then, as you know, arrived younger players like Yuvraj and Kaif, and filled the lower middle order for India. Thus the door was permanently shut on Laxman. So, I feel, Laxman himself is to blame for his failure in the shorter version of the game, where his inconsistency and lack of fitness, coupled with Dravid’s consistency made sure that he was not going to get another look in.

Yuvraj Singh

Coming to Yuvraj’s test place, as it stands today, Suresh Raina is the one who has replaced him in the number six slot, which Yuvraj had earlier managed to inherit after Sourav Ganguly’s retirement. Yuvraj struggled and struggled in the number six slot and finally one fine day, when Raina got the opportunity to bat at that spot owing to Yuvraj’s injury, he grabbed it with a century and a few more strong performances. Yuvraj’s problem lies entirely in his mindset. He somehow can’t seem to take his mind off from the label of an one-day player that was stamped on him by his detractors. He come to the wicket and tried a bit too hard to prove them wrong and ends up being caught up somewhere in between, neither playing aggressively, nor being able to defend with conviction. By trying to defend too much, he ends up ignoring his natural game, which is attacking, and playing a game of somebody else, a situation that any opposition would like to put a batsman into. Then on he becomes a sitting duck for even a part time bowler. His strength is his assured drives of the full deliveries and his brutal pull shots off the short balls. He is the only batsman in the current lot, apart from Dhoni, whom you would not fancy bowling short stuffs. Jacques Kallis, Allan Donald, Brett Lee, Glen McGrath, Waqar Younis, all these fast bowlers have discovered that the hard way. His major weakness lies in his tentativeness outside his off stump at the start of his innings. If he manages to overcome that with a bit of discipline and gets his eye in, he becomes as destructive as anybody you could ever imagine, his high back lift only helping him sending the ball flying out of the stadium. The sooner he realized this better for him. I have always seen him as the Indian version of Kevin Pieterson. Confident to the point of being arrogant, assured on the crease, a rock star in stature just like KP, when in full flow; Yuvraj can just dismiss the bowlers out of their self belief. Any team would love to have an unfair advantage at number six of his caliber.

Unlike Laxman’s one day dreams, Yuvraj’s test career is far from over. With Suresh Raina showing signs of running out of steam, he still can get another chance to prove his true class, only, that would be his last chance.