“If you get Dravid out fantastic. If you get Tendulkar out you are ecstatic, if you can get Laxman out, it’s a mistake or a miracle.”
On a day when there was no shortage of words at the media jamboree organised by Cricket Australia, Brett Lee found it apt to quote his former captain, Steve Waugh when it came to talking about V V S Laxman.
With an average of 63.52 (from a dozen Tests vs Australia), he is quite simply the scourge of the men from Down Under.
Lee is young, bubbly and exuberant apart from being one of the most terrorising fast bowlers around. But he is not given to hyperbole. “I actually rate Laxman as the next Tendulkar. “Don’t get me wrong... Dravid, Ganguly and Sehwag are top quality batsmen,” he said before going on to quote Waugh.
Lee missed the last tour of India in 2001-01 through injury but watched the Hyderabadi stylist get 167 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1999-2000.
Four years later he was at the receiving end at the same venue which happens to be Lee’s home ground. This time Laxman’s knock (178) saw India settle for a draw.
Lee reckons patience is an aspect that comes to the fore when it comes to conquering Laxman. “It’s the patience (factor). It’s an old cricket thing — if he misses, you hit,” Lee says.
“It is all about coming back to the basics. If you try and have this super-duper planning against Laxman or Tendulkar, it won’t work.
You may have different plans at the WACA in Perth with the pace and bounce but over here (India) it is like a new ball game.”
- CLAYTON MURZELLO