Despite having a strong start to his international career, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan last played for India when he was 21. The 1987 World Cup on home soil where he played two matches against New Zealand and Zimbabwe, happened to be his last as he lost his spot in the team and never came close to taking it back.
A spinner who showed plenty of promise since the age of 14, when he played for India Under-19 and went on to make his Test debut as a 17-year-old, Sivaramakrishnan losing his way in the cricketing field has been a big puzzle. And the 60-year-old has said how growing two and a half inches taller brought an unexpected twist to his career.
“In the 1987 World Cup in India, I was bowling a lot of full tosses. I got on the team when I was 16 and those were growing years for any boy or girl. At that age, 16 to 18 or 19, you keep growing. So I had probably shot up about 2 to 2.5 inches. Because I had grown taller, and my point of release as a 16-year-old and a 19-year-old was the same,” Sivaramakrishnan tells The Indian Express.