V. V. S. Laxman, is a former Indiancricketer, represented Hyderabad in domestic cricket and played for Lancashire in English county cricket. He was the captain of the Deccan Chargers team in the Indian Premier League in its first year before being replaced by Adam Gilchrist for the next year. Laxman was awarded the Padma Shri award, India's fourth highest civilian award from the Government of India in 2011 Laxman bats right-handed and occasionally bowls off-spin. He is noted for his superb timing and the ability to hit against the spin, reminiscent of his role model Mohammed Azharuddin. Laxman is particularly noted for the skilful use of his supple wrists, which allow him to flick the ball to various places, but usually through the leg side. This also helps in his catching, and he typically fields in the slips or in a bat pad position. Laxman is noted most for his batting against Australia, in both Tests and One Day Internationals. Six out of his 17 Test hundreds, and four out of his six ODI hundreds have come against Australia.He has two double-centuries in Tests, both of them against Australia: his personal best of 281 atKolkata in 2000–01, and 200 not out at Feroz Shah Kotla in 2008–09,and in 2002 he was named one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. In 2012, Laxman retired from international cricket.