Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman was shy of his magnum opus 281 by a clear 208 runs. Still, his stellar unbeaten 73 was enough to guide India home in Mohali.
His career runs and centuries are fewer than some of his more decorated peers, yet Laxman has delivered each time the chips are down. As indeed has Rahul Dravid. As indeed did ‘Jimmy‘ Amarnath.
Which is brings us to the question: who is India’s most valuable Test match batsman ever?
churumuri 
It is Laxman! Like Amernath his place in the team has not been definite always. But when ever there is a demand in a tough situation he has always delivered. If he had failed in the second innings, Yuvaraj would have replaced him, and Lax would have been out for ever.
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My vote is for Sehwag. Where is Sehwag in the list?
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It is not proper to mention about any one single batsman. All of them are unique and all are most valuable to the Indian cricket. We should not go by any one or few test matches and decide. At one time, Sanjay Manjrekar was labelled as The Wall, much before Rahul Dravid. But he could not sustain. In terms of consistency and sustainability, Sachin, Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, Vishvanath, Ganguly, Laxman, Azharuddin, (forget about his match fixing involvement for a moment), Kapil Dev, Chetan Chauhan and few others – all are most valuable. Better not single out any one. It is not a correct practice.
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In a TV debate the other day, both Dean Jones and Ajay Jadeja were of the opinion that Laxman is a very quality player rated in the best top 5 batsmen of India. Both agreed on Sachin as the best, and Azhar as the 5th best, with Sunil, Sehwag and Rahul in between.
Yet my personal feeling is a batsman has to be judged by his innings under pressure, and the number of matches which have resulted in a win for his team by his innings. By this yardstick Sachin’s accomplishments despite his records pale in front of Laxman.
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I cant beleive Dravid is on the list. His supposedly great innings have come when the openers have done their job. Can anyone remember any match that Dravid has saved/won
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Bangalore/Mysore inda bandu Dravid ge vote hakidde hakiddu!!
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where is sehwag?
he is definitely an extremely valuable batsman and unique in his ability for quick scoring and mammoth totals, allowing the middle order to come on and do their stuff.
where is sehwag, churumuri?
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Regarding valuable runs,wasn’t it Sachin who scored 103*,when Dravid and Laxman fell cheaply after a great start provided by Sehwag,while chasing 384?
Apart from Sachin and Murali Vijay(Who scored under Sachin’s guidance),which other batsman scored more than 30 in the Bengaluru test?So,wasn’t Sachin’s 214 important then?
If a couple of players who scored regularly,didn’t perform well in a particular innings,then the batsman who hasn’t scored much earlier must come in and make up for his past failures to save the team;that’s what Laxman did in Mohali and that’s what Sachin did in Bengaluru.
It’s more important to have a professional batsman like Sachin and Dravid(His form has dropped in recent years though);than someone who gives a gem occasionally(Which I agree is Still much better than the worth of many other Batsmen.)
Laxman is considered a man who delivers whenever there’s a crisis,if he comes with a masterly 281 or 73*,once in 10 Tests,if he did that more regularly;then India would have been a much better Match-winning Unit during 2001-07.
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