His match-winning 281 against Australia at the Eden Gardens in 2001 will go down as one of the greatest Test match innings of all time, and former India batsman VVS Laxman Thursday revealed he was actually not fit enough to play that Test against Australia.
“281 (against Australia in 2001) was a significant achievement as far as I am concerned because the situation we were in (that Test match). And also I was not fit enough to play that Test match. Hemang Badani was there in the physio room, when I walked into (former physio) Andrew Leipus — actually I feel because of him I was able to play the Test match,” Laxman recalled at the Mumbai launch of his book ‘281 and Beyond’, co-authored by R Kaushik.
Laxman said that his partner during that epic innings and former India captain Rahul Dravid constantly motivated him through their partnership.
Dravid scored a 180 in the second innings after the hosts were given a follow on by Australia. India eventually went on to win the Test match by 171 runs and later the series 2-1.
“At the first place I was not going to the play the Test match and Andrew made me fit to take the field. It was a great opportunity for myself to go and just play my natural game,” Laxman is quoted as saying by PTI.
“So that Test match was an important Test match, because I didn’t make runs in the first Test match (in Mumbai) and as it turned out I played my natural game, played on the merit of the ball, didn’t really think about what happened in the past or what’s going to happen.
