‘The most ultimate team man,’ After Tendulkar and Ganguly, VVS Laxman honours another former India teammate

After paying tributes to Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble, it was Rahul Dravid’s turn to be at the receiving ends of VVS Laxman’s kind words. Laxman, who has shared Indian cricket’s most memorable partnership in Tests with Dravid – a 376-run stand against Australia at the historic Eden Gardens Test in 2001 – called his former India teammate the “ultimate team man” and the “most committed student.”

“The game’s most committed student, Rahul was the ultimate team man, responding to every challenge with complete dedication. Despite being in a position to say ‘no’, he not only kept wicket in white-ball cricket and opened the batting in Tests, but did so with utmost diligence,” Laxman tweeted.

Dravid and Laxman are Test cricket’s 10th most successful batting pair in terms of runs. Dravid and Laxman have batted together in 86 innings, scoring 4065 Test runs at an average of 51.45. The pair has put together 12 century stands and 14 fifty-run partnerships in Tests. For India, they are the fourth-most successful batting pair after Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, and Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.

Tendulkar and Dravid have scored 6920 runs at an average of 50.51 with 20 century partnerships – the most by any pair in Test cricket. Gambhir and Sehwag, in 87 innings, have scored 4412 runs with 11 century stands and 25 half-century partnerships. Ganguly and Tendulkar have batted together 71 times in Tests, scoring 4173 runs. Their average is the best among India’s batting pair at 61.36.

Source: HindustanTimes