Hyderabad, May 29 (IANS): Batting great V.V.S. Laxman on Friday shared a memorable photo on social media where he is seen meeting former South Africa President and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela in 1996.

"Found this fond 1996 memory of meeting the great #NelsonMandela who was & continues to remain an inspiration. Despite enormous hardships,27 years in prison & going through unspeakable levels of cruelty,the grace with which he lived,teaches us to remain joyful in every situation," Laxman said in a tweet on his official Twitter handle.

The photo with the tweet saw Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mandela shaking hands with Laxman. The picture also has Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar in it.

Laxman recently heaped praise on current white-ball vice-captain Rohit Sharma and stated he is one of the most successful captains in the history of Indian Premier League.

"He became a leader in the Deccan Chargers team. When he came in the first year, he was a youngster who just played the T20 World Cup, made his international debut for India," Laxman said while speaking on Star Sports' show Cricket Connected.

"I think the way he was batting in the middle order, under pressure because the team didn't do well in the inaugural IPL edition in 2008, but Rohit was a standout performer for us.

"In each and every match, with each and every success, his confidence level was just growing, he was getting into the core group, helping the youngsters, voicing his opinion and those were early signs," he added.