At his sublime best, VVS Laxman is a sight for the gods. Wristy, willowy and sinuous, he can match - sometimes even better - Tendulkar for strokeplay. His on-side game is comparable to his idol Azharuddin's, yet he is decidedly more assured on the off side and has the rare gift of being able to hit the same ball to either side. The Australians, who have suffered more than most, paid the highest compliment after India's 2003-04 tour Down Under by admitting they did not know where to bowl to him. Laxman, a one-time medical student, finally showed signs of coming to terms with his considerable gifts in March 2001, as he tormented Steve Waugh's thought-to-be-invincible Australians with a majestic 281 to stand the Kolkata Test on its head. But even though he had another wonderful series against the Australians in 2003-04 with two centuries, one of them involving a back-from-the-dead, match-winning, 300-plus partnership with Kolkata ally Rahul Dravid at Adelaide, he hasn't quite managed the consistency that could have turned him into a batting great. Between dazzling and sometimes workmanlike hundreds, he has suffered the frustration of numerous twenties and thirties and has lost his place in the one-day side. Nothing, though, has deterred him from tormenting his favourite opponents with silken strokes and piles of runs: in the course of the double-hundred at Feroz Shah Kotla in 2008, he became the second Indian batsman after Tendulkar to score more than 2000 runs against the Australians. A couple of years later, batting with a runner due to back spasms, he conjured up a magical unbeaten 73 in a thrilling run-chase in Mohali.

However, in 2011 the runs dried up in two successive overseas trips - in eight innings in England he scored 182, and then the poor run continued in his favourite country and against his favourite opponent, Australia. With India losing those matches badly, his future as an international player was suddenly under threat.

There were calls from former players and commentators questioning Laxman's selection for the two-Test home series against New Zealand in August 2012. On August 18, though, less than a week before the series was to begin in his hometown Hyderabad, Laxman announced his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect, resisting the temptation to end his career in front of his home crowd.

Sambit Bal

• February-March, 1994
  An early taste for Australia
  • In his first outing with the India Under-19s, he averages 110.25 in three Tests against the visiting Australian U-19 team, which includes Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee and Andrew Symonds
    
• November 22, 1996
  A promising beginning
  • On his Test debut, against South Africa in Ahmedabad, he makes a composed 51 in the second innings - one of only two half-centuries in the match - to set up India's victory in a low-scoring game
    
• March 6, 1997
  Top order, but not top form
  • India's impregnable middle-order means Laxman has to play as an opener to remain in the side. On his first assignment in the West Indies, he has a torrid time and is dropped by the end of the series
    
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• Ranji Trophy 1999-2000
  A domestic giant
  • Still being shunted in and out of the Indian side, he makes his case with a staggering 1415 runs in the Ranji Trophy, the most ever in a single season
    
• January 4, 2000
  Let me entertain you
  • The knock that proves his international credentials. At the end of a wretched Test series for him and India, he strokes a majestic 167 off 198 balls against Australia in Sydney, his first Test century
    
• March 13-15, 2001
  Very, very special
  • The defining innings. Steve Waugh's Australians were relentlessly marching towards conquering the "Final Frontier" with a 274-run first innings lead in the second Test in Kolkata. His epic 281 leads an astonishing recovery and India sneak to victory by 171 runs
    
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• November 2-3, 2002
  Kolkata love affair continues
  • With nearly five sessions to play, India are four wickets down in the second innings and still trailing by 53 runs against West Indies in Kokata. He puts on a combative 214 with Sachin Tendulkar to take India to safety
    
• December 2003-January 2004
  Another dose of trouble for Australia
  • Spoils Steve Waugh's farewell Test series. A backs-to-the-wall 303-run stand with Rahul Dravid sets up the famous victory in Adelaide before a dazzling 178 in Sydney and a triple-century partnership with Sachin Tendulkar gives India a chance to seal the series
    
• November 5, 2004
  Negotiating a Mumbai minefield
  • On an astonishing day when twenty wickets fell, on a dustbowl that Ricky Ponting called "nowhere near to being Test standard", he scripts a doughty 69 that paved the way for a consolation victory in Mumbai
    
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• January 3, 2008
  I love Sydney
  • India's batting, which had struggled in the first Test, finally gets going in the controversial second Test in Sydney with a silken century from Laxman, who along with Sachin Tendulkar puts India back in the contest
    
• October 29-30, 2008
  Delhi demolition
  • He torments Australia again with his second double-century in Tests, which helps India amass 613 in Delhi and guides them closer to reclaiming the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
    
• February 14-18, 2010
  Love affair with Eden Garden continues
  • Laxman scores his fourth century in his ninth Test at the Eden Gardens - an unbeaten 143 against South Africa - as India win by an innings and 57 runs to level the two-Test series.
    
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• August 3-7, 2010
  Fourth-innings saviour
  • Chasing a testing fourth-innings target of 257 in Colombo, Laxman eases to an unbeaten 103. After being four down for 62, India canter to a five-wicket win.
    
• October 1-5, 2010
  Mohali magic
  • More fourth-innings heroics from Laxman, this time rescuing the team from even deeper problems. Chasing 216 against Australia, India were 124 for 8 when Laxman put on his Superman cape again, scoring an undefeated 73 to steer India to a one-wicket victory.
    
• December 26-29, 2010
  Durban conquered
  • On a pitch on which no other batsman scores more than 39, Laxman puts up 38 and 96. It's the difference between the two teams, as India, after losing badly in the first Test in Centurion, come back to level the series with an 87-run win.
    
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