A dream come true for comeback man Balaji

[GautiMaan]

http://cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/52148/interview-a-dream-come-true-for-comeback-man-balaji When India's selectors announced the squad for the World Cup T20, the news of various comebacks made waves around the cricketing fraternity. Yuvraj Singh's return was inspirational, Harbhajan's raised questions, while Piyush Chawla's nearly induced outrage. Amidst the noise around the other comebacks, one name nearly went unnoticed - Lakshmipathy Balaji. Balaji may not be the bowler he was and his selection may well be a case of horses for courses, but his return to the big stage is a story of a person who refused to give up. Not many would have expected Balaji to survive in cricket to see this day. Being selected for a World Cup squad looked far from possible a few years back when he was literally down with several career threatening injuries. His career in the international arena started with a lot of promise, especially in the tour of Pakistan in 2004 where he played a vital role in India's Test series win. Just when one thought that India had unearthed a potential pacer, a series of injuries threatened to bring all hopes to an abrupt end. Balaji suffered a stress fracture on the back in 2005 - an injury so severe that he could not play any sort of cricket for the next three years. It seemed impossible for anyone to even imagine Balaji getting up and bowling again. Speaking to Cricbuzz the Tamil Nadu pacer spoke of his injury. "I underwent some injuries, but that's normal in any sporting career over 12 years. There will be a lot of setbacks because the amount of energy you spend on the field will get rubbed in on your body when you play consistently. You have to look after your body. Even if you get injured, you have to come back hard and have the hope to return and give 100% on the field again." Give 100% he did. He was surrounded by doubts and apprehensions wherever he went, but he took on the challenges and cleared the hurdles, both mental and physical. All of that though, he assures, is a thing of the past "I'm in good shape now, I'm training under a good trainer and physio and they're looking after me well." Each injury resulted in a change in run up and action, and along with it, a dip in pace, but he developed his own strengths accordingly. It was here that he developed various versions of a slower delivery - the off cutter, the leg cutter and the slow bouncer, and all of that came in handy, especially in the T20 format. The emergence of IPL co-incided with Balaji's return from injury and got him back in the reckoning. It gave him (and many others) the much needed platform, and he recognized the importance of the league, comparing it to international cricket in certain aspects. "The IPL is a wonderful platform for T20s. As a player, you can realise what mentally a cricketer needs in international cricket. It's almost similar to international cricket in terms of executing under pressure. It teaches us to handle the pressure and pass it on to the opposition, that's how the IPL comes in handy ...

:hatsoff: to the guy for staying in the game.He has a brain and can easily be better than the current bunch of jokers.

[msb1991]

Good luck to him. I hope he does well.

[vvvslaxman]

He just has to stay away from death overs. He over-complicates things there. Skillwise he is better than most of the guys we have.

[BERGKAMP]

Hooray another 75-80 mph ' er :facepalm:

[Lord]

no hopes from him.bad selection

[Sidhoni]

People obsessed with pace should know that this will be a T20 tourney where death bowling will be of utmost importance. And death bowling is not about pace at all, it is abut variations in speed and length and outsmarting the batsman.

[Number]

SL conditions will suit his bowling. Slower ones, cutters, outswingers with line length. Almost like Pathan. Don't know whether he has stamina of bowling 10 overs after so many injuries, but 4 overs he'd do okay IMO.

[Ultimate_Game]

Balaji's selection can't be faulted. he at least has performances in T20 cricket to back his selection which can't be said for folks like Chawla.

[rkt.india]

I believe he will do well. He has the experience and skills to make his come back count.

[mhr123]

he did well for KKR.. nice selection :icflove:

[adi B]

balaji is a decent selection for t20 wc

[BeautifulGame]

All Rajinikanth power Balaji is a massive Rajini.Those who believe are never let down :bigboss:

[BERGKAMP]

we are going to get beat so bad in this tournament. im even seriously worried about the afghan match.

[GautiMaan]

People not realising that he's the best of what we have:laugh:

[vvvslaxman]

we are going to get beat so bad in this tournament. im even seriously worried about the afghan match.

Don't worry Varu Aaron, Umesh, Ishant are not playing :cantstop:

[Lord]

Balaji's selection can't be faulted. he at least has performances in T20 cricket to back his selection which can't be said for folks like Chawla.

bowling alongside Narine n Lee is FAR easier than bowling alongside our trundlers.see what he did with CSK to know what I mean. Chawla is a pathetic pick,doesnt make Balajis pick good.

[BeautifulGame]

bowling alongside Narine n Lee is FAR easier than bowling alongside our trundlers.see what he did with CSK to know what I mean. Chawla is a pathetic pick,doesnt make Balajis pick good.

Yep bowling with Bhatia is better than bowling with Bolinger :cantstop:

[vvvslaxman]

bowling alongside Narine n Lee is FAR easier than bowling alongside our trundlers.see what he did with CSK to know what I mean. Chawla is a pathetic pick,doesnt make Balajis pick good.

Actually he is one of the very very few good outswing bowlers we have. He bowls outswingers with better control than Sreesanth. Only guy who is capable of bowling peaches every now and then. Problem starts when he decides to bowl back of the hand slower ones. It can go horribly wrong for him. Also Narine is not an opening bowler. Lee wasn't doing anything special. If anything it was Balaji who was the best among their fast bowlers.

[vvvslaxman]

There are not many videos of Balaji from international cricket [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKjlE39Q6dk]Balaji Great Delivery to Shoaib Akhtar - YouTube[/ame] Watch it for a controlled outswinger.. He dismissed Inzamam very similarly when he caught him plumb infront at Mohali.

[Lord]

Actually he is one of the very very few good outswing bowlers we have. He bowls outswingers with better control than Sreesanth. Only guy who is capable of bowling peaches every now and then. Problem starts when he decides to bowl back of the hand slower ones. It can go horribly wrong for him.

dunno for me he never looks like knowing wat hes doing.has good outswing I know,but u cant select him for just that. I dunno why Praveen is being ignored.can swing it BOTH ways.can bat a bit as well.has good ODI record in Lanka too.on all counts would hv been a better pick.