2) VVS Laxman, whose parents are doctors, had to make a choice between a medical career and playing cricket before he eventually opted for the willow and made his mark as one of India's finest cricketers. He is said to be the immense grand nephew of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, ex- President of India
3) In 1987, VVS surprised everyone when he scored his first ton against Andhra Pradesh scoring 153 in an Under-13 tournament in Vijayawada. This was an obvious indication of a legend in the making
4) Laxman was brilliant at academics and scored 98 percent marks in his 10th board exam. His parents — Dr Shantaram and Dr Satyabhama — are noted doctors and following suit, he too enrolled as a Medical student. But thankfully, he chose the life of a cricketer over that of a physician’s.
His family’s eminence doesn’t end here; Laxman apparently is the great grand nephew of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, former President of India. He is married to G R Sailaja, a computer science post-graduate. They tied the knot on February 16, 2004 and have two children – son Sarvajit and daughter Achinta
5) VVS Laxman played his maiden first-class match against Punjab while playing for Hyderabad in the quarter-final match of 1992–93 Ranji Trophy season. Unfortunately, he could score only 0 and 17 in the match
6) VVS Laxman came back strongly in the next season piling up 532 runs from 5 matches at an impressive average of 76 with 2 tons
7) Laxman played his first U-19 international game in the same match in which Brett Lee represented Australia for the very first time. Laxman tormented the Aussies in that particular series
8) VVS took more than three years to score his maiden Test century, a robust 167 against Australia at Sydney in 2000 that made the cricketing world sit up and take notice of this special talent
9) Laxman was involved in three more mammoth stands against Australia - 353 with Sachin Tendulkar in 2004 in Sydney, 303 with Dravid in Adelaide in the same series and 278 with Gautam Gambhir at New Delhi in 2008
10) VVS Laxman is one of those unfortunate cricketers who played over 100 Test matches for their countries but never got a chance to play in a cricket World Cup
11) Hyderabad may be famous for its ‘Dum Biryani’, but Laxman doesn’t gorge on to it, as he is a strict vegetarian. He loves the typical home made food and particularly ‘rasam’ that is prepared in the typical South Indian style
12) VVS Laxman played his maiden Test against South Africa at Motera, Ahmedabad in 1996. He scored 11 and 51 in two innings of this low-scoring Test match that saw India winning it convincingly
13) The top-order right-hander made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe at Cuttack ODI in 1998 but was dismissed for a duck
14) A reliable slip fielder, Laxman shares the record for the maximum number of catches by an non-wicketkeeper in an ODI series. Laxman affected 12 dismissals in the 2003-04 VB series, a record only matched by Australia’s Allan Border
15) VVS Laxman 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)
16) In 2008, Laxman became only the second Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to score more than 2000 Test runs against the Australians. Laxman hit an unbeaten 200 in the first innings to save the match
17) This was the turning point in the talented right hander’s career. Laxman played rock solid while scoring superb 281 against Australia at Kolkata test in the second innings (following-on) and piled a huge 376-run stand with Rahul Dravid that helped India win this test match
18) It was the legendary Aussie captain Ian Chappel who coined the nickname Very Very Special for Laxman after seeing him playing consistent good knocks against Australia during 2003-2004 ODI series
19) Though Laxman isn’t considered to be in the league of great ODI players, he achieved something he could be very proud of. In early 2004, when India were playing a tri-series in Australia, Laxman notched up three ODI hundreds in a span of week’s time. On January 18, he scored 103 not out against Australia at Brisbane, four days later he scored 106 not out against the same opposition at Sydney and on January 24, he scored 131 against Zimbabwe at Adelaide
20) VVS Laxman has other interests apart from cricket. He likes playing table tennis, squash and badminton during his free time. He religiously follows tennis and admires Steffi Graf and Boris Becker
21) VVS Laxman always stood tall against the Australian bowling attack. Laxman’s 6 out of 17 test tons, and 4 out of his 6 ODI hundreds came against Australia
22) VVS Laxman has received the prestigious Padma Shri awards and Arjuna Awards for his immense contribution to cricket
23) Laxman’s 281 is counted as the 6th best in Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack list of 100 great test innings
24) VVS Laxman has played county cricket for Lancashire and has played IPL too. He was initially named the icon player for Deccan Chargers, the Hyderabad IPL side. Laxman appointed as the captain rejected the offer to be an icon player in order to free funds that would enable the franchise to buy younger players
25) His favorite film - Jerry Maguire. His favorite actor - Aamir Khan.
Laxman is also said to be a massive follower of Aamir’s reality TV show ‘Satyamev Jayate’
26) On 18 August 2012, Laxman announced his retirement from international cricket. Although he was selected for the upcoming New Zealand series, he opted not to play in the series but he will play in domestic cricket for Hyderabad and the Indian Premier League. It was announced that the Northern Stand at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium will now be named after him.
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