The impossible dream

Most of the greatest feats in soldiering and sport come at a time when all hope has been extinguished. Only as the shadows lengthen and faces grow long in the hour of darkness can the truly memorable deed be done for then it is that pedestrian notions must be abandoned.

As he walked to the wicket beneath the baking Kolkata sun VVS Laxman must have felt the game was up. A fighter by nature, he must have been crestfallen by the predicament of his team. Outplayed in the first Test, India had been forced to follow on and faced further humiliation. Moreover the Australians were at their most aggressive, eager to secure a day of rest and recreation, committed to silencing the provocations of the opposing captain.

As Laxman took guard he found himself surrounded by the din of the crowd and the biting resolution of his gum-chewing, green-capped opponents near at hand. Habitually, he cuts an impressive and impassive figure upon which hostility falls like raindrops upon a bear. He stood his ground.

Laxman was about to play the innings of a lifetime, one of the greatest knocks the game has known. His effort has not shrunk in retrospect for it was not a mere protest against fate but rather a purposeful pursuit of an impossible dream.

Helped by Rahul Dravid, and later Harbhajan Singh, Laxman turned a match, and, as it turned out, an entire series, upon its head. He batted with a mastery and measure that confounded opponents convinced of his technical frailties and inconsistency. He rose to the occasion like a backbencher suddenly standing in an important debate and producing a speech so full of gravitas that the government itself took notice.

Laxman's innings was not a dull attempt to delay defeat, but rather a display of inspired and thrilling attacking cricket. Not once did he contemplate the scoreboard or pause to take stock of his achievement for there was work to be done and no one else to do it. Throughout, the pressure was intense; another wicket would have sent India spiralling to disaster, but he was impervious. Quite simply, he refused to budge, an oak tree standing against the typhoon. The strokes he played will linger in the mind for their combination of power and economy - a step backwards, a short backswing and the ball is speeding to the boundary with heavy-footed Australians in despairing pursuit. And it did not merely happen a couple of times. It lasted two days.

Facing the faster bowlers, Laxman stood tall, waited for the ball and then despatched it after due consideration and with considerable confidence. Even Glenn McGrath could not trouble him and eventually resorted to shrugging his shoulders in the manner of a man who realised the futility of his task. Incredibly, Jason Gillespie kept charging in to bowl, hurling them down, his spirit unbroken. His superb performance added lustre to Laxman's innings because it gave not merely context but also opposition.

Shane Warne must have felt he was tossing toffee to a child. For a few hours Laxman drove him through the leg side with impunity until, expanding his repertoire, tiring of the orthodox, he started stepping inside the ball to stroke it through the covers. These were shots whose audacity convinced the bowler of the hopelessness of his calling.

Laxman batted till stumps on the third day and through a fourth day on which the Australians pounded without affect. Skill, stamina, willpower and temperament as well as an unfailing desire to win were revealed in this performance. It was mind-boggling in conception as well as execution. Records kept tumbling, the crowd kept clapping and still Laxman went relentlessly on his way. Not till the job had been done and quick runs were needed, did he lose his wicket, weary at last and playing a loose stroke.

Steve Waugh said that Sachin himself could have played no better. Australia understood that Laxman's century in Sydney had not been a fluke. Nor did Laxman rest on his laurels, he kept scoring runs till the series had been taken. Afterwards the Australians took a look at his initials and decided to call him Very Very Special Laxman.