The couple’s VVS Foundation, which supports the education of underprivileged kids, has been around for the past two years, albeit with a very low profile. "I’m happy with whoever we got during the auction. Over the last two years, our spinners weren’t doing too well. He is an mpact player.S. In a chat with Laxman and his wife Sailaja, the former cricketer opens up about their Foundation, his quest to give back to society, the Sunrisers Hyderabad and of course, family. Laxman’s home in Hyderabad, you are greeted with several trophies that he won during his elaborate and successful career as a cricketer."Sailaja, who is personally involved with the Foundation, says, "We have a quarterly audit, where we directly get in touch with the parents and the students. "The Foundation supports 90 children apart from 4 IIT students, and we want to raise that number.

These new recruits will give us flexibility in playing different combinations in the matches," says Laxman. We got a spinner in Rashid, spinning all-rounder in Mohammad Nabi, and a fast bowler in Chris Jordan. We also support three schools in Hyderabad and one in Bengaluru. After my retirement, I became an ambassador for a couple of NGOs and also happened to visit various charity run schools.V."V.S.Sailaja admits that Laxman has got "even busier after his retirement".As you enter V."Laxman reveals, "We also want to set up a sports school, which will focus on both sports and academics while giving an all round development to 3.5 mm to quarter inch students. He makes sure that he makes enough time for family," says Sailaja. I’m taking help from Azim Premji’s Foundation because they have already invested a lot of money, time and knowledge in helping people from similar background."He continues, "Our scholarship in education is known as the Sathyaram scholarship — named after my parents, Satyabhama and Shantaram while our sports scholarship is named Baba Krishnamohan scholarship, after my maternal uncle, who spotted my talent and mentored me.V. He is very confident and can bat well too. Rashid is a wicket taking bowler. In between, we meet students and check their academic progress as well," says Sailaja. "My kids were named by Sathya Sai Baba," says Sailaja adding, "We want the kids that we support to enjoy the same kind of facilities like our kids, Sarvajit and Achintya. We want them to be confident and ready to face challenges, without compromising on academics. "I have learnt so much during my career as a cricketer, I wanted to share the knowledge," he says.

But the selection process is very stringent, as we want to give an opportunity to only those who deserve it," says Sailaja, while Laxman adds, "Sailaja was always very philanthropic in nature, supporting underprivileged kids. That’s when I planned to start a foundation and we thought of doing this in a structured and systematic manner. adds, "We also counsel the parents and children to motivate and inspire them. My kids should also understand that they are equal to other children."     "We organise various health camps. But Laxman says that this is his way of giving back to the society.S."On donning many hatsPost-retirement, Laxman has taken on various roles — he is a cricket commentator, on the advisory committee of the BCCI, a mentor to SRH, batting consultant to Bengal’s senior team and a columnist, apart from running a cricket academy and school, with his wife. We arrange meetings with their role models and take them on field trips. But even then, he played for a while with Sarvajit before he left to school.A Family ManIn spite of having a lot of work commitments, Laxman makes sure that he has enough time for his family."

On Sunrisers HyderabadA mentor to Sunrisers Hyderabad, Laxman says that they tried to plug a few loopholes this time around.Talking about Rashid, the star cricketer in this season, Laxman says, "Picking Rashid was a collective decision of Tom (Moody), Murali (Muttiah Muralitharan) and myself.V."The other day he landed late at night, and came home by early morning. Laxman and his wife SailajaSailaja admits that Sathya Sai Baba was a great motivation.