A Story of the Silent Savior !

'Ramayan', the Indian Epic has always been about 'Ram' the Prince who spent 14 years in the wilderness to honor his father's words. So glorified has been Ram in Ramayan, an equally phenomenal character was completely sidelined as a sidekick. That was his unbelievably loyal younger brother who followed him throughout the travails, minus the wife !

There are many Heroes in real life. There indeed are many Heroes in most of the stories in 'Real' and 'Reel' Life. But somehow, we have a penchant for making 'One' an absolute Hero and all others the sidekicks. This has been the story of Indian Cricket for the past two decades. Ever since the 'Eleventh Incarnation of God' made his debut, this has been the case.

But Team India perched at the Top of Test Cricket Table has many Heroes. It is the collective effort of many men that has catapulted India to number 1 position.

This in no way should be seen as an effort to minimize the greatness of the most admired Indian Sportsman of all times. This is just my sincere tribute to the most stylish batsman since Mohammad Ahzaruddin.

In spite of a quite prolonged ongoing poor run of form, Rahul Dravid's determination at the batting crease has won us many a battles away from home.

One session of madness with a method is all Virendar Sehwag needs to change the fortunes of the team and demoralize opponents.

In the aftermath of the match-fixing scandals and amidst the ruins of away from home disasters, one man taught Team India to stand up and be counted among the best. And he was rightly called 'Dada' !

In a game dominated by batsmen in a country obsessed with batting records, there was a man with an elephantine appetite for wickets and success. He rightly was nicknamed 'Jumbo' !

Then there is the perennial 'Trouble-shooter' of Indian Cricket. Very few people remember he has played 116 tests. Still very few people remember he has scored over 7000 runs and 16 hundreds batting mostly with the lower order and tail for company.

In Ramayan, the invincible Indrajit could be slain by only a man who had practiced 14 years of celibacy. It was rightly the most dedicated man who could fell the most demanding of the villains. Laxman made Ram's job of conquering Lanka possible by getting Ravan's proud son out of the way.

Rewinding to circa 2010, Team India were not favored to beat Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka once Zaheer Khan was not available. Murali and the Lankan batsmen made India look ordinary in the first test. Second test was all about Batathons. In an evenly contested Third Test, in spite of Sangakkara's assertion, India showed why they still were the top dogs.

And then the man who has remained a silent achiever for most part of 14 years and done his bat do the talking; had to come to the rescue again. Veeru was gone for another of second innings failures. Dravid's defense had let him down and India were staring at a 2-0 series loss. Of course there was Sachin, but it was the absolutely subtle handling of spinners by Laxman which made the chase possible on the fifth day wicket.

India didn't exactly conquer Lanka. They haven't done it for over fifteen years now. But this series was believed to be lost once they were walloped in the first test and it needed a 'Laxman' to save the honor. Rightly so, who else could have done it in the land of Ravan but for Laxman !

The day his story is written, they can name it, Laxmanaayan; A Story of the Silent Savior !