'Couldn't believe he was driving the bus': VVS Laxman recalls one of his 'abiding memories' with MS Dhoni

In his autobiography '281 and beyond', swashbuckling middle order batsman VVS Laxman has revealed a number of things which many didn't know about. One of the biggest and most important part of his book was the mention of MS Dhoni.

Laxman has revealed that the former Indian skipper, after he took over the captaincy from the retiring Anil Kumble, drove his team's bus at Nagpur. Stating that he never imagined such thing to happen, Laxman wrote,

"One of my abiding memories is of MS (Dhoni) driving the team bus to the hotel in Nagpur, during my 100th Test. I couldn't believe my eyes - the captain of the team driving us back from the ground! It was his first Test in charge after Anil's (Kumble) retirement, and he didn't seem to have a care in the world. But he was like that, playful and grounded. MS never lost the joy, the playfulness. I have never met anyone quite like him."

Another mention regarding the former Indian skipper was to clear the reported rift between the two. There were rumors that the pair had problems between them at the time Laxman was retiring.

But he put to rest all such speculations. Stating that his initial comments, wherein he mentioned it is difficult to reach Dhoni, was taken wrongly, the legendary batsman wrote,

"After I informed the media of my decision to retire, the questions flowed. ‘Have you informed your teammates?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Have you spoken to Dhoni, what did he have to say?’ ‘Everyone knows how difficult it is to reach Dhoni,’ I joked. Little did I realise that this would trigger the first and only controversy of my cricketing career."

READ: 'I Was Struck By His Maturity, Simplicity': VVS Laxman Reveals Admiration For MS Dhoni At The Time Of Retirement

He followed this up by writing that it was media which tried to create unrest between the two by speculating what he meant, whereas in reality, he was in awe with the then Indian skipper for the way he behaves with others.

"I had unwittingly provided fodder to the media, who started to speculate that I had retired in a huff because MS and I had differences, that there was a rift between us. It wasn’t funny at the time, but one of the headlines the following day read, ‘VVS, retired hurt'. I waited for the end of the Test and then went to the hotel to thank every teammate and member of the support staff individually. When I met MS, he took one look at me and burst out laughing. ‘Laxman bhai, you are not used to all these controversies, but I am. Don’t take this to heart. We all know that sometimes, facts need not come in the way of a good story.’ I was once again struck by his maturity, his simplicity, and how easily he had put me at ease," he added.