'I was struck by his maturity, simplicity': VVS Laxman reveals admiration for MS Dhoni at the time of retirement

Former Indian middle-order batsman and one of country's best ever Test player, VVS Laxman, in his autobiography '281 and beyond' has revealed that he has nothing but positive words for ex-Indian skipper MS Dhoni, despite media reports that there was a rift between the two.

At the time of his retirement from Test cricket, it was reported that Laxman and Dhoni did not share a great rapport, and the former wasn't able to contact the latter while announcing his decision. But Laxman has put all these rumors to rest with his revelations in his book. 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."

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.

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Laxman enjoyed a stellar Test career with the national team. He played 134 matches, scoring 8781 runs at an average of 46. The highlight of his career was his 281 against Australia in 2001, which helped India win one of the most memorable matches of all time. In fact, the name of Laxman's book comes from that very innings.