V.V.S. Laxman

Mumbai: Stylish batsman V.V.S. Laxman put his team before self after getting the assurance that he would lead the Hyderabad franchisee in the Indian Premier League (IPL) even as he declined to become an icon player in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“Laxman has been named as captain of the Hyderabad team. He gave away the icon status (which the franchisee owners had demanded from the IPL governing council) as he wanted Hyderabad to have a larger budget (for buying players).

“He showed fine sportsman’s spirit,” said P.K. Iyer, managing director of Deccan Chronicle, after buying the veteran cricketer for $375,000.

The IPL has conferred icon status on Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh to rule them out of the auctioning process and then added Virender Sehwag to that list when Delhi franchisees GMR demanded it.