Vangipurappu Venkata Sai&nbsp;Laxman is the great grand nephew of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, former President of India.
On February 15, 1987, Laxman scored his first century (153) against Andhra Pradesh in an under-13 tournament played in Vijayawada.
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Despite having represented India in over 100 Tests, he never played in the Cricket World Cup.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/2012/aug/laxman17.jpg" alt="Dravid and Laxman" width="500" height="368" /> A Pair made in Heaven: Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman were a formidable pair out in the middle for India in Tests.
Laxman had a disappointing first-class debut for Hyderabad against Punjab in the quarter-final match of the 1992-93 Ranji Trophy season. He scored a duck in the first innings.
Ducks seem to have special significance in VVS Laxman's life as he also started and ended his ODI career with them. While he got out on the third ball against Zimbabwe on his debut match, he again failed to open his account in his last ODI appearance.
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Laxman&rsquo;s extraordinary knock of 281 in the second innings (following on) against Australia at the Eden Gardens is one of the best innings by an Indian cricketer and is ranked the sixth in Wisden Cricketers&rsquo; Almanack list of 100 great Test innings in the history of the game.
He was Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2002.
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Laxman and Australian pacers Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie made their international debuts in the same U-19 match in February 1994.
He took more than three years to score his maiden Test century -- 167 against Australia at Sydney in 2000.
He is India's fourth-highest scorer (8,781) in Tests after Sachin Tendulkar (15,470 runs), Rahul Dravid (13,265) and Sunil Gavaskar (10,122).
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He has hit 5 sixes in Test matches, 4 sixes in ODIs, and 8 sixes in Twenty20 matches for India.
He had a special affinity for the Australian attack and scored six out of his 17 Test hundreds, and four out of his six ODI hundreds against the Aussies.
In 2008, he became the second Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to score more than 2000 runs against the Australians. His unbeaten innings of 200 at Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla helped save the match for India.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/2012/nov/vvs-laxman.jpg" alt="A young VVS Laxman" width="500" height="402" /> A young VVS Laxman
He has taken two wickets in Test cricket -- Pakistan's Mohammad Sami at Kolkata's Eden Gardens in 2007 and West Indian Adam Sanford at St John's, Antigua, in 2002.
ALSO READ:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.mid-day.com/articles/nothing-compares-to-my-epic-281-says-laxman-/97314" target="_blank">Nothing compares to my epic 281, says Laxman</a>
He was a medical student before becoming a professional cricketer.
Laxman scored 98% in his 10th standard Science examination.

On VVS Laxman's 42nd birthday, we present to you some interesting information on the former Indian stylish right-handed batsman

Birthday Special: Some lesser known facts about VVS Laxman

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Home / Sports / Cricket / Article / Birthday Special: Some lesser known facts about VVS Laxman

Birthday Special: Some lesser known facts about VVS Laxman

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