Laxu........YEW BEAUTY!

"Elegance (they say) can not be taught. It comes from within."
VVS Laxman proved every bit of it right yesterday at the SCG with a blazing yet brilliant knock against the Aussies and I was one of the few lucky ones to witness it at the ground!

It was a very warm and pleasant day at the ground. Dad and myself had always dreamt of watching a match live at any Australian ground. This Aussie summer we were lucky to realise our dreams at not one but two of the majestic grounds in this country. It began at the MCG on boxing day and here we were again on the third day of the new year at the Sydney cricket ground.The Aussies were still batting (were 7 down) when we went in at around 11am AEST. We knew we had taken a calculated risk then(we really wanted to get a glimpse of the Indian batting!)but little did we realise then as to what was in store for us.

The Aussies(as expected) were all out just before lunch and the Indian openers safely negotiated 3 overs before lunch. Post lunch, Jaffer fell to a beauty of a delivery from Binga and in came the Maestro!I call Laxu that because of his brilliant performance against the best team in the World over and over again especially at this very ground.

All of a sudden it seemed as if VVS was from a different planet as he accelerated the scoring immediately. He played brilliant strokes on both sides of the wicket, the cover drive being the highlight of his innings. His innings was so well paced that he was even appreciated by the Australian crowd! Great counter attack from Laxu (especially considering how badly we had played at the MCG) got him to his half century off just 46 balls. It seemed more like an ODI innings from him. One thing of major concern for us was the fact that Laxman invariably has a good start to most innings but then fails to convert it into a big score. This time, though, that was not to be!

After getting to his 50, he mellowed down a little bit keeping a check on the shots he was playing on the rise before. Mind you he was still running briskly taking the singles and the two's. Before anyone realised he had got to his 12th test match century, a truly magnificent innings indeed. Everyone in the stands rose and paid tribute to this great batsman.

Dad and myself went quiet for sometime as we both were overwhelmed by this occasion. We both looked into each others eyes quietly soaking in what we had witnessed and maybe saying to each other "YES! YES! YES! WE ARE BACK IN BUSINESS!!"