Slithering down Laxman must now take ladder

Unlike others, he is thoughtful and committed, works hard on cricket, even carries cricket books in his kit bag. “I have read books written by past greats,” says Laxman with a shy smile, as if apologising for his habit. This provides technical insight and inspiration. For Laxman, runs in domestic cricket come easily, it is a simple matter of switching on and delivering.

He agrees, once settled, it isn’t difficult because you keep getting loose balls. Same, of course, does not happen in international cricket which has no lose balls, no gifts, no favours. On the contrary, each ball is a challenge, one slip and you are gone. There is no second chance. The last tour to Australia was, as he puts it, up and down. It was a terrific experience, a great cricket education because conditions were good and the opposition really top grade.

Laxman made a punishing Test hundred but, after a few failures, finds himself in the wilderness once again. Laxman’s problem, experts say, is he is not a natural opener. Hence the tendency to feel for the ball outside off-stump, the desire to drive away from the body, the urge for the big strike through cover. This could be correct but, all said and done, compared to others, Laxman’s record is extremely impressive.

In Indian cricket, the opener’s slot is a snakes and ladder game, sooner than later, the opposition finds you out or the selectors bite. At present, with Laxman, the snakes are winning, he is back to square one but determined to climb up. To do that successfully, technical adjustments to tackle pace are needed.

Which is not easy because (Australian paceman) Glenn McGrath is entirely different from Debashis Mohanty and if one is fed on the latter’s pace for a lifetime, suddenly facing unfriendly bowlers on unfriendly pitches is a huge problem. To overcome this handicap, Laxman tried many things. The bowling machine did not work because of predictability, once you know where the ball is aimed, the surprise element is lost.

More useful is having wet balls chucked at you from 15 yards, this sharpens reflexes because the batsman must decide options against the skidding ball in less than a split second. Having opened for India (in Australia, West Indies and South Africa), Laxman thinks of McGrath as a tiger, a relentless bowler whose teasing accuracy keeps batsmen on the backfoot all the time.

There is no room, no time to relax. Same with (West Indies’) Curtly Ambrose — always absolutely spot on. Wasim Akram is different, the master of variation, experiments a million things, has more tricks in his bag than PC Sorcar. After several years in the business, Laxman is no inexperienced rookie.

He flirts with the away-going ball and drives uppishly past a diving cover because one must take chances against bowlers, defensive methods alone don’t work. Laxman possesses stunning shots, played with such languid elegance that even when the ball thuds into the advertisement boards, you think he just pushed the ball away.

Laxman, the batsman, is like Dravid — polite, polished, poised, full of calm and dignity. But to revive his floundering career, Laxman must reconvince the selectors and decimate the snakes in this brutal game of snakes and ladders.