Measuring the magic - a statistical retrospective of VVS Laxman

One cannot measure VVS Laxman’s genius with numbers. Yet, figures do matter. Arunabha Sengupta provides a comprehensive analysis of his career, his record against the best teams, his match-winning abilities and where he stands against his contemporaries and all-time greats.

 

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To accurately measure the raptures of delight which VVS Laxman’s magical batting generated, one perhaps needs medical apparatus. The racing pulse, breathless emotion, the glad throbbing of the heart and the upswing of ecstatic mood – without taking these into account, analysis of an artist of his ability remains incomplete.

 

Yet, cricket is a game where numbers do matter. And in these result-oriented times, sublime epics have scant value unless they reflect in the bottom line.

 

So here is an attempt to measure the magic in prosaic figures, stripping away the robe and wand and placing the enchanter on the scales meant for all – from the mundane to the lofty.

 

Numbers do have their merits – and a detailed look often produces surprises, counter-intuitive and eye opening inferences. Let us see how Laxman’s career withstands a rigorous analysis.

 

 

Counting the conjurer

 

 

So, how did Laxman fare?

 

His figures are impressive: 8,781 runs in 134 matches, at an average of 45.97 with 17 hundreds. Only a handful of Indian batsmen boast better figures after this long a career.  

 

From this study carried out earlier, we find him to be right there in a very elite bracket, finishing seventh in the all-time list of Indian batsmen – after Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, Mohammad Azharuddin, Virender Sehwag and Mohinder Amarnath. His record has been better than 70% of the batsmen who have played alongside him during exactly the same period.  

 

 

Around the world

 

 

If we look at his career, we find that he has played his best cricket at home, his figures in Australia slightly tarnished because of the dismal final tour.

 

He has made decent runs in most of the pitches around the world wherever he has had the opportunity to bat for long. The sole exception is England. Laxman used the depth of the crease to go back and get that extra fraction of a second which had stood him in excellent stead against pace bowlers, but it did backfire in England where this same technique had him succumbing to the swinging delivery too often.

 

 

VVS Laxman Around the world

 

  

	Matches	Runs	Average	100s	50s
in India	57	3767	51.60	8	24
in Australia	15	1236	44.14	4	4
in Bangladesh	3	117	39.00	0	1
in England	11	586	34.47	0	5
in New Zealand	5	322	40.25	1	2
in Pakistan	6	262	37.42	0	2
in South Africa	10	566	40.42	0	4
in Sri Lanka	7	530	48.18	1	4
in West Indies	16	1146	47.75	2	10
in Zimbabwe	4	249	41.50	1	0
Home	57	3767	51.60	8	24
Away	77	5014	42.49	9	32

 

 

The two popular claims to fame of VVS Laxman are his record against Australia and his ability to win matches.

 

Let us now turn our attention to these.

 

 

Against the best in business

 

 

Against Australia, he ranks 4th among Indian batsmen of all time, standing atop a compilation of several masterpieces.

 

 

Top 10 Indians against Aus	Minimum qualification  500 runs
	Matches	Runs	Average	100s	50s
SR Tendulkar	35	3438	57.30	11	15
GR Viswanath	18	1538	53.03	4	9
SM Gavaskar	20	1550	51.66	8	4
VVS Laxman	29	2434	49.67	6	12
M Amarnath	13	773	45.47	2	4
V Sehwag	20	1711	43.87	3	9
MAK Pataudi	11	829	43.63	1	8
R Dravid	32	2143	39.68	2	13
M Azharuddin	15	780	39.00	2	3
DB Vengsarkar	24	1304	38.35	2	7

 

 

In the lion’s den, Laxman boasts exemplary figures in spite of his poor final series. Only six Indian batsmen who have scored more than 500 runs in Australia have done so at an average greater than 40

 

 

In Australia	Matches	Runs	Average	100s	50s
M Amarnath	8	668	55.66	2	3
SR Tendulkar	20	1809	53.20	6	7
SM Gavaskar	11	920	51.11	5	1
V Sehwag	10	948	47.40	2	4
VVS Laxman	15	1236	44.14	4	4
R Dravid	15	1143	43.96	1	6

 

 

In this regard, Laxman’s dominance over the number one side of his generation is worth a closer look.

 

It is heartening to see Indian batsmen taking the top two ranks against world dominating sides of two different eras. Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath against the West Indians of 1976-94 and Tendulkar and Laxman against the Australians of 1995-2009.

 

The younger men deserve more credit since the records of Gavaskar and Viswanath are diluted by the six Tests during the Packer era.

 

 

Against WI of 1976-1994

 

 

Top 10 against the best	Matches	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
GR Viswanath (India)	10	752	57.84	3	3
SM Gavaskar (India)	21	1867	56.57	9	3
ME Waugh (Aus)	14	947	45.09	3	5
GA Gooch (Eng)	26	2197	44.83	5	13
RA Smith (Eng)	15	1028	44.69	3	6
SR Waugh (Aus)	16	1020	44.34	2	6
DB Vengsarkar (India)	25	1596	44.33	6	7
AJ Stewart (Eng)	10	716	42.11	2	2
DC Boon (Aus)	22	1437	39.91	3	8
AR Border (Aus)	31	2052	39.46	3	14

 

 

Against Aus 1995-2009 

 

 

Top Ten against the best	Matches	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
SR Tendulkar (India)	24	2380	58.04	8	11
VVS Laxman (India)	24	2204	55.10	6	10
KP Pietersen (Eng)	10	963	53.50	2	6
V Sehwag (ICC/India)	15	1483	51.13	3	7
BC Lara (ICC/WI)	22	2082	50.78	8	5
S Chanderpaul (WI)	15	1210	48.40	4	7
MP Vaughan (Eng)	10	959	47.95	4	1
AB de Villiers (SA)	12	879	43.95	3	6
MR Ramprakash (Eng)	10	749	41.61	1	4
R Dravid (ICC/India)	27	1860	41.33	2	11

 

 

If we take the other country considered to be the most challenging to tour, South Africa, Laxman does not return with flattering figures. But, he is one of the only two Indians to have an average of over 40 against the Proteans in their lair. 

 

 

In South Africa

 

 

Indians averaging more than 40	Matches	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
SR Tendulkar	15	1161	46.44	5	3
VVS Laxman	10	556	40.42	0	4

 

 

As a match-winner

 

 

The match-winning records always have a habit of ending up as counter-intuitive. As in almost all the tables above, Sachin Tendulkar leads here as well, in spite of the numerically challenged and metronomically moronic criticism about his abilities in this regard. But, VVS Laxman also ends up right there at the top.

 

In a more robust statistical test (Mann-Whitney technique), Laxman comes behind Tendulkar and Dravid in the analysis carried out to test relative match winning records.

 

 

Best Indian batsmen in Won Matches	Matches	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
SR Tendulkar	63	5594	66.59	20	22
R Dravid	56	5131	65.78	15	23
V Sehwag	37	3201	57.16	7	16
VVS Laxman	47	3410	55.90	7	23
M Azharuddin	22	1609	55.48	5	4
GR Viswanath	20	1637	49.60	4	8
G Gambhir	21	1557	48.65	4	9
DB Vengsarkar	18	1187	47.48	4	4
MS Dhoni	26	1453	46.87	3	10
SC Ganguly	37	2284	46.61	4	14

 

However, where Laxman really clinches the top spot is in is his ability to finish matches. In the 4^th innings of won matches, he has an amazing average of over a hundred. However, it may come as a surprise that even in this category, the man immediately behind him is Tendulkar.

 

 

4th innings of matches won (Min: 300+ runs)	Matches	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
VVS Laxman	16	402	100.50	1	3
SR Tendulkar	23	653	72.55	1	4
R Dravid	24	511	56.77	0	3
V Sehwag	14	364	40.44	0	3

 

 

One of the best lower middle-order batsmen of all time

 

Finally, VVS Laxman does end up in a very elite group. He finishes in the top bracket of batsmen in the lower middle order positions of No 5 and No 6. Considering all the innings played in these positions, he stands at No 15 in the all time list. Among Indians in this group he is second, and again Tendulkar somehow creeps in ahead of him.

 

 

All time top 20 batsmen at No 5 & No. 6	Mat	Inn	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
CL Walcott (WI)	29	38	2033	61.60	8	9
S Chanderpaul (WI)	101	168	7912	57.33	21	46
MJ Clarke (Aus)	68	106	5422	57.07	19	19
AB de Villiers (SA)	57	82	3937	56.24	10	20
GS Sobers (WI)	63	94	4509	55.66	15	19
A Flower (Zim)	58	96	4372