Lakshmipathy Balaji

In this Indian name, the name Lakshmipathy is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Balaji.

Lakshmipathy Balaji

Shubek Gill (right) with L Balaji (left)
Personal information
Born	(1981-09-27) 27 September 1981 Madras, Tamil Nadu, India
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm fast medium
Role	Bowler
International information
National side	India (2002–2012)
Test debut (cap 245)	8 October 2003 v New Zealand
Last Test	24 March 2005 v Pakistan
ODI debut (cap 147)	18 November 2002 v West Indies
Last ODI	8 February 2009 v Sri Lanka
ODI shirt no.	55
T20I debut (cap 43)	11 September 2012 v New Zealand
Last T20I	2 October 2012 v South Africa
T20I shirt no.	55
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2001–2016	Tamil Nadu
2008–2010	Chennai Super Kings (squad no. 55)
2009	Wellington Firebirds
2011–2013	Kolkata Knight Riders (squad no. 55)
2014	Kings XI Punjab (squad no. 55)
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI Matches 8 30 Runs scored 51 120 Batting average 5.66 12.00 100s/50s 0/0 0/0 Top score 35 21* Balls bowled 1,756 1,447 Wickets 27 34 Bowling average 37.18 39.52 5 wickets in innings 1 0 10 wickets in match 0 0 Best bowling 5/76 4/48 Catches/stumpings 1/- 11/–
Source: ESPNCricinfo, 5 October 2012

Lakshmipathy Balaji (born 27 September 1981) is an Indian cricket coach and former cricketer. He is a right arm fast medium bowler. He announced his retirement from first-class and List A cricket in November 2016. He is currently the bowling coach for Chennai Super Kings, his former side in the Indian Premier League.

Personal life

Lakshmipathy Balaji was born on 27 September 1981 in Madras, Tamil Nadu, India. He married former Miss Chennai beauty pageant Priya Thalur in 2013.

International cricket

Balaji became a member of the Indian cricket team as Fast Medium bowler in 2003. Playing for his state team since 2001, he made his Test debut against New Zealand at Ahmedabad in 2003. He was recognised after his performance in the 2004 India Pakistan series. In that series, he played a significant part in Indian team's historic victories. But after an injury, his international cricket career was put on hold. He made a comeback in Pakistan's 2005 tour of India, taking 5 wickets in the first innings. Injury kept him out of cricket for the next 3 years. Balaji made his return to domestic cricket in 2007. After a strong 2008 domestic season where Balaji was instrumental in helping Tamil Nadu reach the Ranji Trophy semifinals, Balaji was called up to the international squad in January 2009 to replace an injured Munaf Patel who sustained a groin injury. Balaji was included in the playing XI for the final match of the series against Sri Lanka. India went on to lose the match. Balaji was rested for the subsequent Twenty20 match. In February the BCCI announced that Balaji had been dropped from the ODI squad to tour New Zealand but had been selected for the test squad. Thus marking Balaji's return to the test squad after a five-year hiatus having last been part of the test squad in the 2004 series against Pakistan.

On 18 July 2012 he was included in 30 probables for the World T20 tournament to be played in Sri Lanka in September 2012. Subsequently, he was selected in the final 15-member squad. He made his comeback into the Indian side in the second T20 International against New Zealand at his home ground-Chennai.

Indian Premier League

Balaji played for the Chennai Super Kings team in the 1st 3 editions of the IPL starting from the 2008 Indian Premier League. On 10 May 2008, he picked up the first hat-trick of the IPL tournament in the match against Kings XI Punjab at Chennai, and rounded off the evening with a match-winning five-wicket haul. His tournament was to end on a low as he bowled the final over to Shane Warne and Sohail Tanvir, with the latter hitting the winning runs off the final ball. Since his successful spinal operation in England by Prof. John Dowell he has returned to full form. Balaji has been notably consistent for the economy rate in all T20 matches in the IPL Chennai Super Kings as the normal matches of T20 seldom had run chases below or near 130 . He has not done much in the batting side of IPL.

In the second season of the Indian Premier League, he picked four wickets against Rajasthan Royals on 30 April 2009, leading the Chennai Super Kings to victory.

In the 3rd season of IPL, Balaji played 7 games and picked up 7 wickets. After won the tournament and went on to play the ACLT20, Balaji played most of the games in the tournament and his economical bowling was praised by the captain of the Indian team, MS Dhoni and was listed by him as one of the reasons to CSK's victory in the tournament.

In the fourth season of the IPL, he was purchased by Kolkata Knight Riders.

In the seventh season of the IPL, he was purchased by Kings XI Punjab.

Coaching career

He was appointed as bowling coach and mentor for Kolkata Knight Riders.

For the 2018 IPL edition, he was appointed as the bowling coach for Chennai Super Kings

References

Sources

L Balaji calls time on first-class, List A career, 16 September 2016