VVS Laxman says he wanted Indian team to return home after infamous Sydney Test during 2007-08 tour to Australia

New Delhi: Batting great VVS Laxman on Tuesday recollected how he wanted the Indian team to return home immediately after the infamous monkey-gate scandal at Sydney in 2007-08. “I was the one who suggested that we should go back home immediately because it was clear it was one-sided and it was not fair but Anil (Kumble) showed great leadership qualities and managed everything,” Laxman said during the Delhi launch of his book ‘281 and Beyond’. [caption id=“attachment_5672691” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image from the second Test at Sydney during India’s tour of Australia 2007-08. Reuters[/caption] India lost the second Test of the 2007-08 Border Gavaskar Trophy after Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds found themselves in the middle of a racial abuse scandal which, coupled with some questionable umpire decisions, had snowballed into a big crisis and Indian team had threatened to abandon the tour before ICC intervened. “Perth win mattered for what happened at Sydney. We as a team felt that we were let down by umpires, there were a lot of atrocious decision given against us, and we lost that match, so it was important for us to win at Perth.” Laxman credited the “big-hearted” Indian tail-enders for making it possible for him to score runs during his illustrious Test career for India. “I was very selfish because no. 6 was not a position suited to my batting. My batting suited number 3 as I could use the pace of the ball. Batting at No. 6 meant that invariably the opposition captains would set the field and ball at the tail-enders,” he said. “So I had to come up with a strategy to score runs, to build a partnership. I used to play big shots and get out initially. So I had a discussion with John Wright and we thought it was important to enhance the batting skills of the bowlers. “All these bowlers had a big heart. There were challenging bowlers at that time which required technique. So it was decided that each batsman was responsible for a bowler, so I realised that the only way I can score runs was by rotating the strikes. So thanks to them for playing with such mental toughness.” Laxman said he had a lot of negativity after failing to retire with a win against Australia Down Under in a four Test series in 2011-12. “There was a lot of frustration and negative emotions in me specially after losing 0-4 in Australia because it was my dream to retire on a high and I was not able to achieve that and I was shattered,” he said. Laxman also narrated a lot of anecdotes from his illustrious career right from when he was uncomfortable sharing the room with Zaheer Khan, to being late for a Test match and India skipper MS Dhoni riding a bus at Nagpur during a Test match against Australia.