It is Laxman's turn to play 'Lone Ranger'

By Vijay Lokapally

SYDNEY, JAN. 4. He went down with guns blazing, and most humbly dedicated his knock to the team and his dear ones. In V.V.S. Laxman's grand performance at the SCG, a touch artist was born and he might have been lost to Indian cricket but for this symphony on Tuesday.

The Indians lost by an innings and 141 runs as Glenn McGrath took his match tally to 10 wickets, but Laxman resurrected his career with a remarkably polished innings which belonged to the highest class.

Australia won the series 3-0 and this match with two days to spare. If the battle was extended it was purely because of Laxman's batsmanship.

India's cricketing image stood sullied by another timid surrender but from the ruins emerged Laxman, a much under- rated batsman. He now awaits justice. Even as India slid to another humiliating defeat, he dazzled with the bat, scoring his maiden century in 17 Tests. But what a pity. The selectors have summoned him back.

``We'll see if we can have a word with the Board. He surely deserves to be here. I'll be very happy to have him here,'' said Tendulkar on the possibility of Laxman staying back for the rest of the tour.

Kapil Dev agreed. ``We'll make a request to the Board to allow us to have Laxman for the one-day series. He batted like a champion today. He reminded me so much of Azharuddin,'' said the Indian coach.

Laxman, 25, blasted hundred-plus in a session with masterly strokeplay. He demonstrated every shot in the book with silken grace and emphatic force as he took the fight to the opposition. His show pushed into the background some good work earlier by Justin Langer, who made his first double century, and Ricky Ponting.

The Aussies in the stands stood and applauded Laxman's achievement. Steve Waugh walked up to the genial Hyderabadi and offered warm congratulations. ``It was the most stunning strokeplay seen this summer,'' praised the Australian skipper.

Struck on the visor by Glenn McGrath, the mild- mannered Laxman took little time to recover and played some astounding shots in front of the wicket. He whipped Brett Lee across the line as the bowler went for 52 runs in five overs. Laxman also punished `man of the match' McGrath and Fleming with powerful cover-drives. All shots worthy of a limited-overs innings and Laxman was only proving a point that he had the calibre to create it in a Test arena.

It was the most entertaining innings of the series no doubt. It had quality written all over and every cracking shot from his bat must have caused certain discomfort to at least five men back home.

What one liked was the manner in which he stood on his toes and smashed the bowlers behind square. No other Indian batsman had shown such courage against the fast men on this tour, and against Shane Warne too. Watching Laxman step out to Warne was a delight, as were his well-timed flicks and a couple of crashing bended- knee square-drives.

In the morning, Langer prolonged the misery of the bowlers by hitting and missing and edging his way to a double century while Ponting continued his wonderful domination of the Indian attack with his second century of the series.

Australia declared having swelled the first innings lead to 402 runs. It reminded one of the Calcutta Test in 1998 when the Aussies suffered a similar embarrassment at the Eden Gardens. It was a declaration well-timed by Steve Waugh since it gave his bowlers, fresh and hungry, to tear into a tiring opposition.

Lack of will to fight

The lack of will to fight among the Indian ranks was shocking. That some were ill-equipped technically was understandable but not the likes of Rahul Dravid, who perished to McGrath for the second time in the match, to complete a miserable run in the Test series.

The ill-advised move to open with a makeshift option once again jolted India early in its second innings. M.S.K. Prasad had nothing to offer and finished with an awful match. The 22-run stand was India's best opening partnership in six innings.

Tendulkar was back on the field in a matter of seven overs and lasted just four deliveries. He swung the first ball from McGrath for a majestic boundary but it was not a good sign. It must have been tough for the Indian skipper to concentrate, what with some of his trusted men deserting him. So when he punched the ball straight to covers, one was not surprised. Tendulkar, adjudged the `man of the series', also could succumb to pressure.

Once Tendulkar fell, India's hopes sank. Wickets kept tumbling and Laxman increased the pace of his run-making. He lost the inconsistent Ganguly, shaky Hrishikesh Kanitkar, determined Anil Kumble and an incredibly jinxed Ajit Agarkar, who collected his fifth zero in a row. When Laxman finally fell, in fading light, the crowd rose to a man. The last batsman got out in a clumsy run out and Vijay Bharadwaj could not bat due to a spasm in the lower back. It did not matter as Indian cricket stood crippled despite the gallant efforts of Laxman and Tendulkar. Australia was a clear and worthy winner in every aspect of the game.

To add to India's woes, the team was fined 10 per cent of its match fee for bowling two overs short.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA - 1st innings: 150

AUSTRALIA - 1st innings:

G. Blewett b V. Prasad                19
(90m, 54b)
M. Slater c M.S.K. Prasad b Srinath    1
(18m, 11b)
J. Langer c V. Prasad b Tendulkar    223
(523m, 355b, 30x4)
M. Waugh b Ganguly                    32
(102m, 70b, 5x4, 1x6)
S. Waugh lbw b Srinath                57
(151m, 124b, 9x4)
R. Ponting (not out)                 141
(262m, 183b, 17x4, 1x6)
A. Gilchrist (not out)                45
(65m, 56b, 5x4)
Extras (b-2, lb-21, nb-11)            34
                                     ---
Total (for five wkts. decl.)         552
                                     ---

Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Slater), 2-49 (Blewett), 3-146 (M.  Waugh), 
4-267 (S. Waugh), 5-457 (Langer).

India  bowling:  Srinath 28-4-105-2 (nb-7), Agarkar  19-  3-95-0, 
Prasad 28-10-86-1, Kumble 33.2-6-126-0 (nb-2), Ganguly  12-1-46-1 
(nb-1), Bharadwaj 12-1-35-0 (nb-1), Tendulkar 7-0-34-1,  Kanitkar 
1-0-2- 0.

INDIA - 2nd innings:

V.V.S. Laxman c Gilchrist b Lee      167
(255m, 198b, 27x4, 1x5)
M.S.K. Prasad c M. Waugh b McGrath     3
(19m, 7b)
R. Dravid c Warne b McGrath            0
(9m, 7b)
S. Tendulkar c Langer b Fleming        4
(6m, 4b, 1x4)
S. Ganguly c M. Waugh b McGrath       25
(71m, 51b, 3x4)
H. Kanitkar c Slater b Lee             8
(32m, 19b, 1x4)
A. Kumble c Ponting b McGrath         15
(75m, 45b, 3x4) 

A. Agarkar c Gilchrist b McGrath       0
(3m, 2b)
J. Srinath (not out)                  15
(28m, 27b, 1x4, 1x5)
V. Prasad (run out)                    3
(4m, 2b)
Vijay Bharadwaj (did not bat)

Extras (b-4, lb-2, nb-14, w-1)        21
                                     ---
Total                                261
                                     ---

Fall  of  wickets:  1-22 (M.S.K.  Prasad),  2-26  (Dravid),  3-33 
(Tendulkar),  4-101 (Ganguly), 5-145 (Kanitkar), 6-234  (Kumble), 
7-234 (Agarkar), 8-258 (Laxman), 9-261 (Prasad).

Australia  bowling: McGrath 17-1-55-5 (nb-6),  Fleming  13-2-47-1 
(nb-1, w-1), Lee 11-2-67-2 (nb-5), Blewett 2-0-16-0, Warne  13-1- 
60-0 (nb-2), Ponting 1-0-8-0, Slater 1-0-2-0.

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