Whats the deal?

This partnership between VVS Laxman and RP Singh has been very useful (37 so far) but I'm utterly, totally baffled by the policy on scoring runs. Sometimes VVS behaves as if he does not want to shield RP Singh and so he'll take singles early in the over, and sometimes he won't. Sometimes RP will have a go, and sometimes he won't take singles either early in the over (while having taken some late in the over and thus retaining strike). I'd estimate that about 10 runs have been turned down thus far.