When he came in, crossing Rahul Dravid on his way out to the middle, the score was 100 for three. It became 110 for four not long after, when Sachin Tendulkar departed. Laxman held on for the next 20-odd overs, and then it was 162 for five.

Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman. Today might just have been the last time that those three names appear next to each other in the fall of wickets section of a scorecard. PTI reported Dravid had told teammates that he had decided to announce his retirement.

The entry next to Laxman read “c Marsh b Lyon 35”. It was a neatly set trap, the off spinner bowling around the wicket, a short midwicket waiting. A shortish delivery, a flick-cum-pull. A trademark Laxman shot, a trademark Laxman reaction when it cost him his wicket.

Disbelief, which he normally reserves for special deliveries that pitch middle and hit off. A refusal to believe it was over. A moment, lasting longer than clocks would have you believe, of stillness. Laxman didn’t want to go. But he had to.

The crowd’s reaction, as Laxman crossed the boundary rope, was mixed. Some rose from their chairs. Some sat and clapped. Others looked on unmoved. With Tendulkar, the ovation is almost a duty. Laxman doesn’t have that aura. Even, as this tour has shown, in Australia.

Laxman will never play Australia again. The return series, next year, is perhaps too far away. Future generations, told about his miraculous deeds against this team, the best team of his era, will puzzle over the number 49.67. Yes, someone will tell them, it ended badly, with a series so full of lows that Laxman’s average against Australia dipped below 50.

They’ll then talk about Sydney, Kolkata, Adelaide, Perth, Mohali and the rest. Laxman may never play a Test again. He may retire in the near future. The selectors may even leave him out, when a long, important home season comes around. Whatever it is, the knowledge of his cricketing mortality might have added an additional layer of poignancy to his reaction.

Nobody wants the thing they love the most snatched from them. Strip away everything that comes with being a professional sportsperson, and batsmen at all levels are joined by the elemental tactile pleasure of bat meeting ball.