VVS Laxman Credits Former Coach John Wright For Helping Bowlers Take Pride in Batting
Jan 26, 2020 at 1:19 PM
Indian batting legend, VVS Laxman opens up about his days with the Team India when Sourav Ganguly led the team in a fine fashion. The current President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and former Indian skipper Ganguly brought the light to Indian cricket when the team had faced a tough time. His captaincy returned faith in the Indian cricket after the match-fixing saga back in 2000.
It was that time when even the bowlers came in to bat–to score runs instead of getting out for playing reckless shots. The team already had the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, and Laxman.
However, the turning point came when the lower-order batsmen were batting with the same fire as the top-order batsmen.
India’s tail-enders brought a new sensation to the game and the Men in Blue had a complete squad with few brilliant match-finishers.
VVS Laxman: ‘Fortunate to have bowlers taking pride in batting and bowling’
Players like Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Kumble, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, S Sreesanth, etc., thrived with both bat and bowl. The ex-cricketer and commentator, Laxman, however, credited the former Team India coach John Wright for turning the late-order batsmen to match-finishers who revelled in their batting.
“I think I should give credit to John Wright for this where I convinced John Wright that it is very important that we got bowlers who take pride in their batting whether Anil, Harbhajan, Ishant, Zaheer, whoever. We were very fortunate to have those bowlers who took a lot of pride in their batting and bowling,” Laxman said.
Laxman, further, told that John appointed each batsman in the team to help the bowlers after their net practice. Well, a team needs to have quality batsmen in the lower-order to keep the runs coming in the fag end of the innings.
“John made it a point that each batsman in the team would become a batting coach and a batting partner to one bowler. For me, it was Zaheer Khan. We had to make sure that after each net session we gave a throw down to the bowlers so they can improve on their skills.
VVS Laxman reckons ‘communication’ plays a vital role in any side:
“Working as a family is very important. And then I also used to have a chat with them saying they were very good. So when the challenges started coming by especially against good bowling attacks, I used to give them strike to show my belief and trust their ability. And I used to tell them you are capable of scoring runs. Communication is very important,” highlighted the 45-year-old.
During his days in Indian cricket, the Test Specialist or India’s Mr Consistent in the red-ball cricket, has done wonders for his side. He had played in several games with the lower-order batsmen. Batting in unfavourable conditions against the major sides and pairing with the tail-enders was Laxman’s speciality.