By CricketCountry Staff
Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi said on Tuesday that stylish middle-order batsman VVS Laxman is better than his Hyderabadi contemporaries Mohammad Azharuddin and ML Jaisimha.
Published: Dec 06, 2011, 08:58 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 06, 2011, 08:58 PM (IST)
VVS Laxman has scored 8,626 runs in 130 Test matches for India © Getty Images
By CricketCountry Staff
Hyderabad: Dec 6, 2011
Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi said on Tuesday that stylish middle-order batsman VVS Laxman is better than his Hyderabadi contemporaries Mohammad Azharuddin and ML Jaisimha.
When asked about his favourite cricketer to emerge from Hyderbad, Bedi said, “VVS. I would put VVS higher. He is the best of the lot for his consistency.”
Bedi said the wristy elegance while playing a shot is a tradition of Hyderabad batsmen passed down the generations, IBN reported.
Bedi is currently working as the manager of the Jammu & Kashmir Ranji team, and still backs his claims that Shoaib Akhtar and Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan were javelin throwers.
“I believe in clean action. I belong to traditional cricket. I don’t believe in 15 degrees of all such nonsense,’’ he said.
The former Indian skipper said the late Ghulam Ahmed and ML Jaisimha are his favourite cricketeres.
“To me, Ghulam Saheb and Mili Litre Jai were giants of the game. They were very lovable people. Ghulam Saheb was chairman of the selection committee also and secretary of the board when I was the captain of the Indian team,” he said.
“Whenever I talk about Ghulam Saheb, I get goose bumps. He never talked ill of others. He was a great administrator. Jai, on the other hand, had a brilliant brain. I believe whenever Rahul Dravid used to come, he used to meet Jai, whose house was open to cricketers,” Bedi added.
As the manager of J&K Ranji team, Bedi says he is cherishing the experience.
“I’m enjoying. We need to improve with our cricketing acumen. The team is not exposed to four-day cricket and we need more exposure in Jammu and Srinagar. We need more infrastructure,” he said.
“But the youngsters are keen and competitive. They had promise always but they had just been participating. I would like to see them compete and not just participate,” he added.
“One thing, I’m not a coach. It is a misnomer. You don’t coach adults, you coach under-14 or under-16 cricketers. I’m a cricket manager. Talk cricket to them, motivate them. I’m one of them. I’m still learning. I’m very happy that Sunil Joshi is in Hyderabad. He is a fine cricketer,” Bedi stated.
Bedi said cricket’s popularity is on a constant rise in the country, and it will help its future at the international level.
“The interest in cricket is huge at all levels. Out of this quantity will emerge quality. That is the way I look at it. We don’t have a system as such which will throw up champions,” he said.
“Champions will emerge on their own as did Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Kumble, Kapil, Gavaskar and Vishwanath. They had come on their own. They had fire in their belly,” Bedi expressed.
