On former Indian cricketer VVS Laxman's birthday -- he turned 38 on November 1, 2012 -- here are some trivia about the Very Very Special player.
- VVS Laxman is the great grand nephew of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,u00a0former President of India.u00a0
- On February 15, 1987, Laxman scored his first century (153) againstu00a0Andhra Pradesh in an under-13 tournament played in Vijayawada.
- Despite having represented India in over 100 Tests, he never played inu00a0the Cricket World Cup.
- Laxman had a disappointing first-class debut for Hyderabad againstu00a0Punjab in the quarter-final match of the 1992-93 Ranji Trophy season.u00a0He scored a duck in the first innings.
A Pair made in Heaven: Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman were a formidable pair out in the middle for India in Tests.
- Ducks seem to have special significance in VVS Laxman's life as heu00a0also started and ended his ODI career with them. While he got out onu00a0the third ball against Zimbabwe on his debut match, he again failed tou00a0open his account in his last ODI appearance.
- Laxman's extraordinary knock of 281 in the second innings (followingu00a0on) against Australia at the Eden Gardens is one of the best innings byu00a0an Indian cricketer and ranked the sixth in Wisden Cricketers' Almanacku00a0list of 100 great Test innings in the history of the game.
- He was Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2002.
- Laxman and Australian pacer Brett Lee made their international debutsu00a0in the same U-19 match.u00a0
- He took more than three years to score his maiden Test century -- 167u00a0against Australia at Sydney in 2000.
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A young VVS Laxman.
- He is India's fourth-highest scorer (8,781) in Tests after Sachinu00a0Tendulkar (15,470 runs), Rahul Dravid (13,265) and Sunil Gavaskar u00a0(10,122).
- He has hit 5 sixes in Test matches, 4 sixes in ODIs, and 8 sixes inu00a0Twenty20 matches for India.
- He had a special affinity for the Australian attack and scored six outu00a0of his 17 Test hundreds, and four out of his six ODI hundreds against the Aussies.
- In 2008, he became the second Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to score more than 2000 runs against the Australians. His unbeaten innings of 200 at Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla helped save the match for India.
- He was a medical student before becoming a professional cricketer.
