Eating Humble Pie

It is not very often that I have to eat humble pie with respect to my judgement of cricketers. Laxmipathy Balaji, the Man With The Big White Smile has forced me to do so twice however, in the last 2 seasons. First, I along with a large majority of cricketing pundits had written him off as another Harvinder Singh, a medium-pacer who would be found out miserably at the international level. His performance against the West Indies in a couple of ODIs in 2002 would back me on my call then. But somehow he was persisted with. He came up better in the Test series against NZ yet ended up picking 1 wicket in 2 matches at an exorbitant average. Despite this he was selected for Australia. But the emergence of Pathan and the reemergence of Agarkar (one of several) further strengthened my hypothesis about Balaji not having it in him to hold a place in the side.

However, injuries to Zaheer and Nehra (a routine affair) meant Balaji got a chance in the VB Series Down Under. Amidst questions from all quarters (yours truly and Geoffrey Boycott being the notable ones) Balaji performed superbly. He was instrumental in helping India to a monumental win in Brisbane and bowled consistently throughout the series in which Agarkar and Nehra were hammered. Then came the Pakistan tour. Surrounded by a plethora of superstars - Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Kumble, Sehwag and young turks like Pathan and Yuvraj, it was Balaji that endeared himself most to the Pakistan crowds (mostly - hordes of giggling teenage girls) His most powerful weapon ? You guessed it !! That Big White Smile. But Balaji delivered more than that. He took 11 wickets in the 3 Tests in a telling contribution to India's biggest ever series victory since I can remember.

But like the rest of the team, he started the 2004-05 season rustily. He was terrible in the Asia Cup where he couldn't put a ball in place and while he seemed to get back into his groove for the series in Holland and England; he suffered a terrible injury - that kept him out for 6 months. In hindsight, Balaji could have made a big difference to India's chances in the ICC Trophy and the Australia series.

Coming back to today, I strongly advocated going in with the proven Harbhajan. But Ganguly put his faith in Bala and I am glad that he has proven me wrong yet again. Ganguly's hunches do not always come correct ( mostly when they involve one Ashish Nehra) but this time it certainly worked. Well done Laxmipathy Balaji !!