Krishnamachari Srikkanth “shocked” at Laxman’s retirement

Chennai: Former India skipper and current chairman of selection committee, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, on Saturday expressed “shock” over middle order batsman VVS Laxman’s retirement from international cricket ahead of the New Zealand series.

Interacting with mediapersons here, Srikkanth noted that the classical batsman was “going with his inner voice,” and added that his decision must be respected. “It is a quite shocking retirement.He has made his decision. This is his personal decision and we should respect his personal decision.We were hoping that he would play in New Zealand series. He is going with inner voice we will have to respect his voice,” he said. Recounting Laxman’s heroics with his illustrious colleague Rahul Dravid, the former skipper said, “It’s a great coincidence that Rahul Dravid and Laxman retired around the same time. They are not going to play in New Zealand series. They have done so many inhuman and superhuman jobs.” Earlier, Laxman announced his retirement from international cricket in Hyderabad on Saturday, after having played for 16 long years. Laxman, who made his Test debut against South Africa in 1996 in Ahmedabad, became part of the famous batting quartet also comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. Laxman got his first test half-century (51) in the second innings of his debut match against the South Africans, but it took him another 29 innings before he got his first test hundred - a magnificent 167 against Australia in the Sydney Test. Laxman played 134 Tests, amassing 8,781 runs at an average of 45.97, with his highest being the monumental 281 against Australia. His innings of 281 against Australia at Kolkata in 2001 was ranked sixth in Wisden``s list of 100 great Test innings in the history of the game. The 37-year-old Hyderabadi made his one-day International debut against Zimbabwe in Cuttack in 1998. Laxman, who could not be a regular member of the ODI side, scored 2,338 (average 30.76) ODI runs with six hundreds and 10 half centuries. Laxman, who batted in all positions barring No.9 and 11, always had a pair of safe hands and pouched 135 Test catches too. He has the record of taking the most number of catches (12) by a non-wicketkeeper in a single ODI series. He shares this record with Allan Border. Laxman has the Padma Shri and Arjuna Award to his credit in recognition of his outstanding achievement in sports. ANI