Laxman angered at being 'rested'

VVS Laxman, frustrated at being "rested" for the three-match one-day series against Bangladesh, has expressed strong feelings on the eve of India's departure for the Test tour. "Why do my performances get quickly forgotten in India?" he asked, in an interview with The Times of India.

"Indian cricket remembers me only when I score," said Laxman. "They don't seem to care that sometimes even I need their support to stay in the team. For instance, my position in the batting line-up changed as per the requirement of the team. But when I go through a lean patch and need to get some big knocks to regain my form, I seem to get dumped."

The Indian selectors have often held Laxman's lack of speed in the outfield against him. It was on this basis that he lost out to Dinesh Mongia when the team for the last World Cup was chosen. "In fielding for instance, one point is awarded for every run saved or conceded. In the last two years there may have been a couple of occasions when there have been more than negatives than positives. But never were they as high as ten, which is considered a bad mark."

SK Nair, the board secretary, recently said, "Some top batsmen are still rusty and need to get into the groove for the series against Pakistan." Laxman counters this by asking, "Doesn't that hold good for me too?"

Laxman agreed that he was not in the greatest form, but suggested that he had done enough to keep his place in the team. "Agreed. I have not been in the same form as I was last year when I was the highest run-getter in one-dayers and third behind Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid in Tests. But I average around 35 and have a good strike rate. I scored a century in the last one-dayer in the series against Pakistan and a brisk 43 off 44 balls in the BCCI Platinum Jubilee match [against Pakistan] at the Eden Gardens. I can understand if I was slow and wasted a lot of balls or did not rotate the strike, but nothing of this sort has happened."