VVS Laxman Reveals India's Biggest Match-Winner He Played With, Narrates An Interesting Story

VVS Laxman is one of those cricketers, who played in a golden era of the Indian Cricket. He was in the lineup of India, which has the stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and the youngsters Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh. Despite all the star players, the flamboyant batsman has termed Anil Kumble as the biggest match-winner of India.

Without any hesitation, VVS Laxman called Anil Kumble the biggest match-winner of all the giant names, who appeared for India during his times. Perhaps, it would have been a humongous task to pick the best among these but Laxman is pretty clear in his thoughts, who introduced Anil Kumble as the match-winner of India during an episode of his Very Very Special Stories.

Anil Kumble is India’s biggest match-winner – VVS Laxman

VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble has played many games for India during their times. The duo used to be the reliable players for the team in In an episode of the Very Very Special stories, Laxman introduced Kumble as ‘the biggest match-winner’ and went on to add saying that Anil Kumble is his dear friend.

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“My dear friend Anil Kumble is probably India’s biggest match-winner… The biggest match-winner I played with,” said VVS Laxman.

VVS Laxman narrates the first meeting with Anil Kumble:

Further, VVS Laxman went on to recall the first meeting of the duo. It was during the Challengers Trophy when Laxman was picked for India B side while Anil Kumble was playing for India A side. Laxman, who is predominantly a backfoot player dealt the leg-spinner in a similar way when he faced Anil. However, Anil Kumble, who has always been master in knocking off batsman, who plays on the backfoot, did exactly the same to VVS Laxman.

“It was a bad memory. I did well for Hyderabad, and India U 19 so was picked for the India B side in the Challengers Trophy. The match was happening in the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium. I can never forget the sound of the ball hitting my pad… Against a leggie, you go on the backfoot trying to hit it square of the wicket… I did that in the previous ball but the next ball struck my pads even before my bat came down, Anil was quick in the air,” said Laxman.

Speaking of the same, Anil Kumble replied saying that he heard of VVS Laxman playing more on his backfoot before the start of the game, which helped him to get him. However, Anil Kumble is generous enough in terms that it was a lucky dismissal. And also, he remembers advising VVS Laxman to play more on his front foot.

“I had heard about you. I knew you were a backfoot player. Probably that’s how I used to set up a player. I just got lucky that day and I also remember coming to you after that match telling you not to play on the backfoot,” Kumble said.

An interesting stat for the duo is that Laxman, who represented India 134 Tests, played 84 of those with Anil Kumble. Laxman also played under Kumble’s captaincy between 2006 and 2008. At the end of 2008 season, Anil Kumble retired from the game as the highest wicket-taker for India.