India's ODI Laxman In The Making?

“The wicket was very difficult to bat on, had sort of plates on it, and its two-paced nature made strokes very difficult. It also had up and down bounce". Graeme Smith was thus quoted after the 3rd India/SA ODI game at Newlands on 18th January 2011.
On the last two successive occasions when he has batted in ODI games, Yusuf had bailed the side from precarious positions to lead the side to victory. Both efforts which got him the Man Of The Match awards.

It is too early to be thinking on these lines, but is Yusuf becoming for India in ODI’s what VVS Laxman is in Tests? If Laxman personifies confidence and grace in dire situations to bail the side out, Yusuf brims with confidence and aggressive intent to lead the side to wins.

For a larger part of his career, Laxman suffered from insecurity. Inspite of his brilliance and performance all it took was a few failures for his place in the side to be questioned. Yuvraj’s blazing ODI form many a times hung over his position, and he in fact lost his place to Yuvraj in the England series of 2006 after one solitary failure. In the preceding five Test innings in a span of 3-4 months, Laxman had scores of 69 and 104 (against Sri Lanka), and 0 not out, 90 and 19 (against Pakistan). Laxman in all probability would have been a bigger performer had he felt assured of his side in the place in those days.

The soft spoken Yusuf may have short-comings against genuine pace that comes at his rib-cage, but his huge heart and strong body coupled with his attacking instincts makes him a talent that India should use effectively in the shorter versions of the game. When the situation gets tough, he doesn’t look to merely survive defending but works towards calculated assaults to stay on top of the opposition. On a day when other batsmen, with the possible exception of Virat Kohli, found the going tough, Yusuf demolished the opposition with his positive approach.

Both Laxman and Yusuf are personified by simplicity. The perverted mind of Fake IPL Player may have projected him as a womanizer during the 2nd IPL, but notwithstanding his multi-millionaire IPL price, Yusuf appears to be a simple, low-profile and low-key persona, very similar to that of Laxman. In recent times (more ofcourse in the case of Laxman) both have shown a huge heart, big temperament and worked magical results when the top-order had failed to deliver.

One hopes that Yusuf, who has been Laxmanesque in his last two ODI batting efforts, is given the confidence of a regular slot in the playing XI, especially in the upcoming World Cup games.

Recap Of the Games
93/5 in the 25th over when Yuvraj departed, and Yusuf walked in for his first game of the India/SA ODI series. India needed 128 more for a win at the halfway stage. Raina was the only front line batsmen, and SA had five overs each from Steyn and Morne Morkel at their disposal. Botha bowled the next over and Steyn returned back to the attack, replacing Duminy who had dismissed Yuvraj. Given the rib-cage problems that both Yusuf and Raina have been known for, this was not a surprise. After the expected bouncer at Yusuf, Steyn went short and outside the off to get hammered to backward point for a boundary. That was one bad ball from Steyn and it was appropriately dealt with. Botha’s next over was eventful, and Pathan had a forceful off-drive edging the ball between ‘keeper de Villiers and Smith for a boundary, and a Steve Waugh like sweep to deep square leg that had Tsotsobe messing up the fielding to concede a boundary.

More importantly, Yusuf was looking positive, his attacking instincts very alert and batting on a wicket that was not quite an ODI belter.

Turn the clock back to 7th December 2010, when India played New Zealand at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and were 108/4 in the 20th over when Pathan walked in to bat. India needed 208 runs at that stage with an asking rate of 6.93 r.p.o. Rain interruptions, which Vettori very clearly said were more in their favor than for the batsman, didn’t deter the marauding Yusuf to lead India to a win with a blistering unbeaten 123 that included 7 hit to the fence and over the fence. India won comfortably with seven balls to spare.

Cut back to the Cape Town India/SA game on 18th January 2011. For reasons only known to him, Smith took Steyn off and brought back Duminy. With Morne attempting a catch off a Yusuf slog sweep only to let the ball on to the boundary, Yusuf had moved to 19 off 17 balls, action galore after he had come to the wicket. The next over from Botha changed the mood of the match as the last of the three sixes over long-on sailed out of the boundary. Yusuf’s 59 off 50 balls had come in at a juncture when India were looking doomed for a defeat, on a batting surface that posed enough challenges.

© Vincent Sunder – 19th January 2011