In an exclusive extract from his autobiography 281 and Beyond, VVS Laxman recalls India’s 2010/11 tour of South Africa which featured a still-masterful 37-year-old Sachin Tendulkar and Dale Steyn in his pomp.
Excerpted from 281 and Beyond by VVS Laxman, published by Westland Sport.
The Tests against New Zealand were followed by a five-match ODI series, but the BCCI rested a host of limited-overs regulars so that we could travel to South Africa to practise at Gary Kirstin’s academy in Cape Town. In the past, we had taken time to hit our straps, so the idea was to get used to the conditions in South Africa by the time of the first Test in Centurion.
In the gap between the Nagpur Test and our departure to South Africa, I went to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for continued strengthening of my back. To my dismay, the spasms returned again, and I had to put off my travel to Cape Town while the rest of the boys went ahead.
I had been working hard on countering the craft of Dale Steyn, so I probably batted a little more than I should have, which led to the spasms. After plenty of attention from Ashish Kaushik, the new physio at the NCA, I flew out to South Africa four days behind schedule and linked up with the guys in Cape Town, where I batted indoors a lot with Gary and Paul Close, the national team physio, keeping a close watch.
Another hundred missed, but I would have taken that 96 any day. It came on a demanding track against a top-class attack, and no other batsman from either side had touched even 40. More importantly, it boosted our lead to 302. Zak and Sreesanth were brilliant in the second innings, the latter producing a snorter to account for Kallis and make possible one of the memorable photographs of the tour—the batsman airborne, his head arched back, the bat thrust in front of his face in self-defence.
The 87-run win helped us square the series, with the decider to follow in Cape Town. For the fourth time in five months and seven Tests, I had delivered when we had our backs to the wall. For the third time, I had played a key part in our victory.
The man of the match award was particularly fulfilling. As I cradled the trophy in my hands, Zak whispered, ‘Happy now?’ My back survived the thumps from my friends, and Gary couldn’t stop smiling. He had labelled me Mr Comeback Man. He was a big fan of Michael Bevan, the Australian batsman who could pull off ODI victories from out of nowhere, a miracle worker if there was one. As we savoured our success at Kingsmead, Gary told me, ‘You are the Michael Bevan of Test cricket.’
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