There are some very special cricketers and there are some very special cricket grounds. When a special cricketer makes a special ground his very own, the outcome is 'Very Very Special'.

Yes, we are talking about VVS Laxman and his exploits at the historic Eden Gardens. Laxman's trip to Eden Gardens has always been like a summer retreat - You make the trip down the middle, and you never want to go back home.

Laxman yet again wielded his bat like a wand and conjured some special stuff, getting to his fourth hundred in front of a less than full capacity but never short of energy, Kolkata crowd.

During this endeavour, Kolkata's adopted son, who had scripted India's greatest comeback along with Rahul Dravid right here, became the first cricketer to get past 1000 Test runs at the Eden Gardens.

Here's a look at his exploits here:

Runs	4s	6s	Dismissal	Inns No	Opposition	Match Date
14	2	0	bowled	2	South Africa	27-Nov-96
1	0	0	bowled	4	South Africa	27-Nov-96
95	16	0	caught	2	Australia	18-Mar-98
5	1	0	bowled	2	Pakistan	16-Feb-99
67	9	0	caught	4	Pakistan	16-Feb-99
59	12	0	caught	2	Australia	11-Mar-01
281	44	0	caught	3	Australia	11-Mar-01
48	8	0	caught	1	West Indies	30-Oct-02
154*	17	0	not out	3	West Indies	30-Oct-02
38	4	0	caught	2	South Africa	28-Nov-04
DNB	-	-	-	4	South Africa	28-Nov-04
0	0	0	lbw	1	Pakistan	16-Mar-05
24	2	1	stumped	3	Pakistan	16-Mar-05
112*	15	0	not out	1	Pakistan	30-Nov-07
DNB	-	-	-	3	Pakistan	30-Nov-07
143*	16	0	not out	2	South Africa	14-Feb-10

Hyderabad batsmen seem to have a special liking for the Eden Gardens. Be it VVS Laxman, Mohammad Azharuddin or the legendary ML Jaisimha, these cricketers from the Southern part of India have entertained the Kolkata crowd time and again with some scintillating knocks.

List of top run-getters at the Eden Gardens:

Player	Mat	Inns	Not out	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
VVS Laxman	9*	14	3	1041	281	94.63	4	3
Mohammad Azharuddin	7	9	1	860	182	107.5	5	2
Rahul Dravid	8	15	2	843	180	64.84	3	3
Sachin Tendulkar	10*	17	2	743	176	49.53	2	5
Dilip Vengsarkar	7	12	3	645	157*	71.66	2	2
Sunil Gavaskar	8	15	2	583	182*	44.84	2	1
ML Jaisimha	7	13	1	530	129	44.16	1	2
GR Viswanath	8	15	0	501	139	33.4	1	3
Vijay Manjrekar	9	15	2	456	90	35.07	0	2

England have the Lord's, Australia have the MCG, for India its the historic Eden Gardens while South Africa can boast of the majestic Wanderers. These are four very special grounds where cricket is the tradition as well as a religion. Scoring runs at these grounds or taking wickets, is like the crown jewel in a cricketer's journey towards excellence. So lets take a look at the achievers, who made their careers special by performing at the Meccas of Test cricket:

Most runs scored:

Player	Ground	Mat	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50
Graeme Gooch	Lord's	21	39	2015	333	53.02	6	5
Donald Bradman	MCG	11	17	1671	270	128.53	9	3
VVS Laxman	Eden Gardens	9	14	1041	281	94.63	4	3
Jacques Kallis	Wanderers	15	25	1001	186	43.52	2	4

Most wickets taken:

Player	Ground	Mat	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	5wkt - Inn	10wkt - Mat
Ian Botham	Lord's	15	69	8/34	11/140	24.53	8	1
Dennis Lillee	MCG	14	82	7/83	11/138	21.92	7	4
Harbhajan Singh	Eden Gardens	7*	41	7/87	13/196	22.97	5	1
Makhaya Ntini	Wanderers	10	53	6/100	10/178	21.56	3	1

Meanwhile, MS Dhoni ever so silently registered yet another hundred, becoming the 14th wicket-keeper to score 4 hundreds or more in Test cricket. He also has the most number of hundreds as an Indian wicket-keeper while he is 3rd on the list of most runs by Indian stumpers.

Most runs by an Indian wicket-keeper:

Player	Mat	Inns	Runs	Highest	Ave	100	50
Syed Kirmani	88	124	2759	102	27.04	2	12
Farokh Engineer	46	87	2611	121	31.08	2	16
MS Dhoni	43	66	2428	148	42.59	4	17
Nayan Mongia	44	68	1442	152	24.03	1	6
Kiran More	49	64	1285	73	25.7	0	7
BK Kunderan	15	28	831	192	33.24	2	3

(Note: The statictics mentioned here include figures from the current Test between India and South Africa. Figures are incomplete as the match is still in progress)

Have you ever felt that in this free nation life is not exactly free as you might expect it to be??The more I see this world the more it seems wrong to me.There is always somebody to tell you what is right and what is wrong.Tell me what is right and what is wrong???Who defines these things???
They say long ago there lived a woman named Draupadi ....... that's right wife of the Pandavas.She is even today called an ideal wife with all the so called "VIRTUES".But tell what is the word people use in 2008 for a woman who has 5 husbands????I dont think you need any help in here.
Do you know the name of the cobbler who worked in Ayodhya during Rama's time????Well he was old,miserable maniac.But you do remember Ravana right??He was a great man,terrible yes but great.He was great man because he did things with full heart giving it his best.
Similarly Hitler was called a terrible psychopath who lead his nation to disaster destroyed democracy and established dictatorship.Just imagine had Hitler won the battle of Stalingrad and continued it with winning the second world war,dictatorship would have been the mode of governance of the world and the word democracy would have derogatory.
Inspite of all this Draupadi was called a virtuous lady and Ravana the ideal villain.All this because the Pandavas have won the war and Ravana lost a war.So all this proved something that made me change a long established notion that winners write history,but they also write what is good and what is wrong?So be a winner by hook or crook and you will be a great man and your way the right way.

so when do we get started

I am Dinesh Biddala.To be true i donno what to write in a blog.I was feeling a bit restless today when I woke up (around 2:30 i suppose......didnt see the time then).im not in a mood to pursue my hobby of collecting pics from the net(i just did it yesterday.......500 pics in 4 hours .....at BITSian net speeds......... im awesome).All my wingies are in deep slumber.So when feel like doin nothin, i just do what i hate to do......socialise!!!
So i logged in to my gtalk account(after 2 weeks i suppose).......then strangely i thought of having a look at Potluri's account........i felt even more useless cos man that is as useless as i am......then i thought if he can get away by writing a blog then so can i.so here im starting a blog.
Hell i donno what to write in a blog.........ive seen potluri's first post describing himself....lucky for him cos i donno myself.....then what to write in this fucking blog of mine.im thinking on some stuff.........stay tuned.........here it comes.....almost there.......yesssssss!!!!!!!
i donno myself,so why dont i do something to know myself better.ive never written a diary cos i never believed in thinking in retrospective.so why dont i keep a pen and paper with me all times.and put down on the paper wat i think every half hour in a sentence or two.......
Amazing idea......so this is hoe darwin must have hit on the idea of natural selection.Victory over myself......... that is sweet.
But there is always a but,and i have a huge but right now.........im lazy.But i not being lazy is not in my hand.yeah seriously i am not in control of myself . so i dont want to change myself but im just curious to know myself better.
So thats it........ ayes have it.....motion passed.....its now a law......hope to see you with the law being implemented.Once again i can only hope