A Very Very Special victory for Rest of India

Class, so cricket pundits through the ages have knowledgeably told us, is permanent. Once ingrained, perhaps at early childhood or even at the earlier genetic level, it will not budge. Resolutely refusing to glance at the neon-red Exit sign, stubbornly ignoring all manner of dropped hints, class digs its heels in; you may huff and you may puff, but you cannot snuff it out.

If there is one player in whom this strange animal is more obstinate than most, that player is Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman. In him, it is not merely content with staying put; it oozes out of his pores, drenches his strokes, and rears its head at every opportunity. Yearning again for the limelight after two months of inaction, it manifested itself with a vengeance against a hapless Baroda on Wednesday.

At the close of Day Four, Baroda must have fancied its chances. It had the last recognised established batsmen at the crease and a 213-run buffer to dismiss Laxman, Dinesh Mongia, Ajay Ratra and a comically long tail. Rest of India, the Baroda players must have said to themselves over dinner, will be denied its Irani hat-trick yet.

Yet, barely an hour after lunch, when Laxman departed, caught Rakesh Patel bowled Valmik Buch for 148 off 198 balls, having stroked 24 boundaries and two sixes, he had not only taken Rest of India to the threshold of victory, but had also pressed the doorbell.

Amid misapprehensions of a crumbling pitch, Laxman played his strokes with calm elan. Seventy-three percent of his runs came from boundaries as he systematically took apart Baroda's bowlers, in particular leftarm spinner and first-innings hero Buch. Although Buch finally snared Laxman with only 10 runs to go, figures of 26-5-128-1 on an Indian fifth-day track will be of little comfort to him.

Accolades for Laxman are sure to flow copiously, especially from a public hungry for any signs of good form ahead of his departure for South Africa. Dinesh Mongia, however, should not be forgotten; following up his first-innings hundred with a stolid 90 off 198, Mongia played a melodious second fiddle. His Man of the Match award was a foregone conclusion even as he brought up the winning runs with a flamboyant four.

Rest of India have now won three Irani Trophies in a row, with Laxman having played pivotal roles in the last two. His position as King of the Domestic Circuit is hardly in doubt. But it is now time for His Majesty to step abroad and win matches in similar style on the international front. If he can translate even half of his domestic success to the next level, his coronation as the King of Kings may not be too far away.