Sri Lanka will be looking for the elusive test match and series win when they tour India for a Three Test, five ODI and Two T20 match series from November to December 2009. The team arrive in India on November 8th for the 55-day tour.
At his sublime best, VVS Laxman is a sight for the gods. Wristy, willowy and sinuous, he can match, and even better, Sachin Tendulkar for strokeplay. His on-side game is comparable to his idol Mohammad Azharuddin, and yet he is decidedly more assured on the off side and he has the rare the gift of being able hit the same ball on either side. The Australians, against whom he has notched his tallest feats, paid him the highest compliment after Indias 2003-04 tour to Australia by conceding that they did not know where to bowl to him. After flitting between awe-inspiring brilliance and mystifying ordinariness, Laxman has finally shown signs of coming to terms with his considerable gifts. In March 2001, all the dreams he had had as a wannabe medical student came true when he tormented Steve Waughs then-invincible Australians with a majestic 281 at Calcutta - one of the greatest performances of all time. But then he went back to mortality settling for the frustrations of the 20s and 30s and struggling to hold his place in the one-day side. An uncharacteristic, grinding century in the West Indies in 2001-02 marked his second coming and he has been a picture of consistency ever since, never failing to dazzle, but less prone to collaborating in his own dismissal. He put behind the acute disappointment of being left out of the 2003 World Cup by making an emphatic return to the one-day game with a string of hundreds in Australia and followed it up with a stirring, match-winning 107 in series decider in Indian historic, ice-breaking tour of Pakistan in 2004. The youngest member of India's dazzling batting quartet, Laxman's most prolific years might be ahead of him.
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2002
Full name
Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman
Born
November 1, 1974, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
Major teams
India, Hyderabad
Batting style
Right-hand bat
Bowling style
Right-arm offbreak
Career statistics
Test debut
India v South Africa at Ahmedabad - Nov 20-23, 1996
The 2009 ICC World Twenty20 is a Twenty20 cricket tournament scheduled to take place in England in June of 2009. It will be the second World Twenty20 and will consist of 12 teams, contested by all Test-playing nations plus qualifiers (Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland)
The Champions Twenty20 League, formed with the official sanction of ICC will kick off in October 2008. Eight domestic teams from four nations will participate. Cricket Australia will partner the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket South Africa (CSA). The champion team in the Champions Twenty20 league will get US $5 million, which is the highest ever prize money for a cricket event.
At his sublime best, VVS Laxman is a sight for the gods. Wristy, willowy and sinuous, he can match, and even better, Sachin Tendulkar for strokeplay. His on-side game is comparable to his idol Mohammad Azharuddin, and yet he is decidedly more assured on the off side and he has the rare the gift of being able hit the same ball on either side. The Australians, against whom he has notched his tallest feats, paid him the highest compliment after Indias 2003-04 tour to Australia by conceding that they did not know where to bowl to him. After flitting between awe-inspiring brilliance and mystifying ordinariness, Laxman has finally shown signs of coming to terms with his considerable gifts. In March 2001, all the dreams he had had as a wannabe medical student came true when he tormented Steve Waughs then-invincible Australians with a majestic 281 at Calcutta - one of the greatest performances of all time. But then he went back to mortality settling for the frustrations of the 20s and 30s and struggling to hold his place in the one-day side. An uncharacteristic, grinding century in the West Indies in 2001-02 marked his second coming and he has been a picture of consistency ever since, never failing to dazzle, but less prone to collaborating in his own dismissal. He put behind the acute disappointment of being left out of the 2003 World Cup by making an emphatic return to the one-day game with a string of hundreds in Australia and followed it up with a stirring, match-winning 107 in series decider in Indian historic, ice-breaking tour of Pakistan in 2004. The youngest member of India's dazzling batting quartet, Laxman's most prolific years might be ahead of him.
