He had faced 282 balls for an elegant 148, which featured 18 fours. His innings was full of orthodox and stylish shots, notable of which were his cover drives through mid-off and extra cover, which saw him open the full face of the bat without an exaggerated follow-through. He leaned in on his drives for the spinners, while he played close to the body for the pacers, with little or no bending of his back. He moved his feet well, and used his wrists to play the ball fine, whenever the ball would stray down to middle-and-leg line. He would also flick the deliveries with no effort at all. For the off-side deliveries, Laxman would either utilize the ball's pace and send it scorching to the boundary, or he would open the face of the bat late enough to cut it. On some occasions he back-cut the ball intentionally over the slips. His innings was even appreciated by the Australian fielders. On one occasion, when Laxman drove Stuart MacGill through cover, Adam Gilchrist, exclaimed, "Aw, nice..." and then clapped his hands in acknowledgment of the shot, as it sped away to the boundary.