India is a land of batsmen. The country's past, present is adorned with batting geniuses. India's great batsmen have produced goods all across the globe in varying conditions against quality opponents over the years.
Some of them like to dominate the bowlers, using force and bravery at the crease, while a few of those use their mental fortitude to survive and eventually flourish for longer periods of time.
Then, there are batsmen, who because of the sheer poetic nature of their strokeplay, could be deemed as artists, bringing a lot of grace and dignity to the art.
And if former India opener WV Raman is to go about selecting the best available in that category, he would pick Gundappa Vishwanath, Mohammed Azharuddin and VVS Laxman, batsmen with whom you would associate poise and elegance.
Raman, the current women's team head coach, heaped rich praise on all three gentlemen, comparing them with "Van Gogh, Picasso & Monet. All geniuses".
The fact that these three are remembered for their exploits despite playing their careers while another great batsman of their time was stealing all the limelight, is reflective of their class.
While most of Vishwath's career was spent playing alongside the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, the theme was same for Azharuddin and later, Laxman with regards to Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar.
Vishwanath, known to be India's go-to guy in the toughest of circumstances, scored 6,080 runs in 91 Tests at an average of 41.93.
Azharuddin made 6,215 runs in 99 Tests at an average of 45.04, whereas Laxman retired from the game with 8781 runs in 134 Tests at an average of 45.5.
