What of VVS Laxman? He has been many things to the powers that create these images for India's players. I have little time or patience for the lazy, small minded views which portray one player as being "the one who is always there when needed", thereby insinuating that the others are not because it is disgustingly unsporting to think that, but more importantly, because the facts do not bear this out. The facts suggest that batting technique, position in the batting order, strength of bowling and other such boring things affect outcomes far more than individual player's alleged willingness or unwillingness to fight through difficult situations or stay calm in a crisis, mainly because such elementary frailties are exposed well before a player gets to be a Test player.
VVS was a fine 2nd innings player, as Number 5 and 6 batsmen tend to be. They come into bat after the bowling side has made a massive effort dismissing three or four of the top batsmen for a second time and must be able to make the bowling team pay for that success. VVS did this brilliantly. In Tests where India conceded a first innings lead, VVS's third innings batting average is 65 (For comparison, Tendulkar's is 60, Dravid's 46, Gavaskar's 54). Only Tendulkar has reached 50 more often in successful Indian 4th innings run chases than VVS, who is one of only 4 Indian batsmen to have scored a century in 4th innings chases. The other three are Tendulkar, Gavaskar and G R Viswanath.
For a while in the early 2000s, as Rahul Dravid faltered, VVS was seen as India's next Number 3 batsman - India's counterpart to Ricky Ponting and Brian Lara. But VVS kept getting out, seemingly against the run of play, after getting set, playing a few miraculous strokes and having the bowling at his mercy. In 2002, India toured England, and on that tour Rahul Dravid ended any speculation as to who India's number 3 batsman should be.
This was in retrospect the best thing that happened to VVS. At Number 5 (or at times 6, often depending on what Sourav Ganguly chose to do) VVS found a spot that suited both his slightly unorthodox technique and his classy all round strokeplay. Batting with the tail, ironically, suited VVS's limitations when it came to running between the wickets (chronic knee trouble limited his speed). Given India's troubles at Number 6 after Ganguly left but even for most of Ganguly's captaincy, finding someone of the class and dependability of VVS immeasurably improved India's run making ability. In 102 Test innings at 5 or 6 in the batting order, VVS reached a half century 48 times! On 11 of those occasions, he made a century.
It is fitting then, that we should consider his greatest Test innings to be not his epic 281 at number 3 at Kolkata against Steve Waugh's Australians, or his 167 opening the batting at Sydney in 1997, but his 73 not out at Mohali against Australia. Laxman's remarkable ability to score all round the wicket off both front and back foot against both pace and spin was on display as it had never been before or since. He hit fours that day with fielders on the boundary without seeming to hit a ball in anger. He missed nothing, and as everybody around him seemed to get increasingly excited, he seemed to have more and more time in hand to play his shots. An innings of such effortlessness in such a tricky situation could only have been played by VVS.
A brilliant player of spin bowling, VVS was marked out for great things by observers and selectors in India both on account of his supreme batting in the First Class Game, but also because of his ability to play fast bowling. VVS made 5240 runs at 80.6 in his Ranji Trophy career, second only to Vijay Merchant and Sachin Tendulkar in terms of average. But the reason VVS was always of interest to the National Selectors was perhaps best illustrated by Tendulkar, who once observed that in Ranji Trophy cricket, middle order batsmen are lucky to face 30 overs of fast bowling in a season, where as in a Test Match, they can go entire sessions without seeing a spinner. VVS stood out, according to Tendulkar in the late 1990s due to his ability to play fast bowling. It probably also helped that he was taking triple hundreds off Anil Kumble in the 1990s, at a time when visiting Test teams very struggling to face that Karnataka man in Tests in India.
It is difficult to see another VVS Laxman in India's Test team. This probably sounds like a cliche, but I do not suggest here merely the gratuitous complimentary point that VVS is a special batsman. In this age of multi-skilled players and intensive fitness coaching and scientific training from age group level, a player making it into the Test team and playing successfully in it (let alone playing 134 Tests for 8781 Test runs), without relishing the slog, the sliding stop, the relay throw, the reverse sweep and the fitness to complete a triathlon and be shaped like a supermodel in his spare time is unlikely. Would VVS, with his knee trouble, and his unorthodox technique, and his limitations when it comes to forcing the pace which make him unsuitable for the 50 over game, let alone the 20 over slogathon, surviving in today's game? VVS is a wonderful strokemaker, but I don't see him hit a six over cover.
Most other players would be cast aside given all the limitations VVS had. It is through the sheer brilliance of his play, and the blinding obviousness of his talent that he stayed in this Indian Test team and played 134 Tests. He started as an opener, stayed only briefly in his favored number 3 spot, and eventually mastered the difficult number 5 and 6 spots. He has now finished as one of India's greatest ever batsmen, and one of the finest of his time.
A final Test in his home town would have been a fitting end, but VVS has decided otherwise. Having had his say for 16 years, like Rahul Dravid, VVS has left quietly, off the field. How could it have been otherwise?