It was the summer of 1996. School life had just ended and it was a time to step into the college life. The pre-engineering exams were just done. India had lost to SL in the World cup semi-final in Eden Gardens and the agony and pain was still afresh in the mind. In the meanwhile India had played in a couple of meaningless ODI tournaments in Singapore and Sharjah before they embarked on England tour. A 23 year old lad had debuted in the Singapore tournament which was more known for the record Jayasuriya or Afridi created in terms of fastest 100. It was Dravid. And in England touring party one name had created flutter which people termed as "quota selection". That lad had scored back to back 100s in first 2 Tests in England including one in Lord's. That was Saurav Ganguly.
Few months later, I had just decided to drop out of the engineering college I was in after a disastrous first semester exams to try my luck in another college. And it coincided with the Titan Cup followed by a South African test series, first on Indian soil. It was Ahmedabad Test and a new lad had debuted in that test. Some very long name ending in Laxman.
Yeah right. VVS Laxman. Vangirappu Venkata Sai Laxman, hailing from Hyderabad, then known for delivering Azharuddin to Indian cricket. His debut wasnt very auspicious. That test was more known for a deadlier spell by J Srinath destroying SA single handed. 6-21 led India to first ever Test win over South Africa.
The class of 1996 had been formed which in future would go onto make a golden history in Indian Test cricket.
The boy was forgotten soon. He continued making Test appearances often and used to get lost in oblivion. The new formidable Indian middle order was just getting formed. Ganguly was at # 3 then, Tendulkar was immovable at 4. Dravid came in at 6 after Azharuddin.
Tours of SL and WI in 1997 followed and VVS Laxman failed to make any significant contributions in those tours. That was a time of disillusionment in Indian cricket. Lot of new faces came in and they faded very soon. David Johnson, Dodda Ganesh, Noel "Who" David were few of those obscure cricketers who came in and faded soon. Not to mention Abe Kuruvilla, Sujith Somsundar and of course Vikram Rathore.
The turning point came in Laxman's career in 1998 when it was Mark Taylor's Australia team to tour India for a full Test series after 12 years (ignoring one off test in 1996). The highlight of the series was Tendulkar vs Shane Warne battle. Nothing else mattered then.
It was Navjot Singh Siddhu and VVS Laxman who formed the opening pair then. Siddhu set the stage in almost every innings with his sixes off the spinners of Australian team. And Laxman quietly did the job with 50s and 30s in that series.
But his marquee moment was yet to arrive and that was in Sydney 2000.
--- To be continued
