Sydney: Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg heaped high praise on ex-Indian cricketer VVS Laxman, comparing him with legendary Sachin Tendulkar. Hogg recalled bowling to Laxman in the Boxing Day Test against India in 2007 and stated the right-handed middle-order batsman was very hard to bowl to.
“VVS Laxman, he was not so much Tendulkar but he played me sensationally. I’ve got a young Indian friend whom I would pull out of school when I would go on a tour and just bowl to him to warm up. He used to love VVS Laxman. VVS, he was just as good as Tendulkar against me. Very hard to bowl to. Just the way he played me off the backfoot is a memory and a lesson I’d never forget,” Hogg told former England fast-bowler Steve Harmison on his YouTube show ‘Test of Time‘.
Talking about his experience of bowling to Tendulkar, Hogg explained how he was a bit under pressure and captain Ricky Ponting and wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist devised a plan to get the Indian out.
“I think it was a tactic from India as well because I knew there was no Shane Warne or Stuart MacGill. If you’re going to look at a weak link from that particular team, especially in the bowling department, it was going to be me. And that put a little bit of pressure on me,” Hogg continued.
“There was a moment when Gilchrist and Ponting actually came up and asked me to bowl wrong ones to him. They said what if we keep bowling the wrong ones to leg stump and try to use the minimal footmark outside and try and bamboozle to tie him up. I said ‘look I’m not comfortable with that. I want to keep bowling my leggies. To bowl wrong ones all the time ball after the ball is quite difficult.”
