KKR feel extremely fortunate to have 'Wasim bhai' around, says http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lakshmipathy-Balaji-c72130 - Cricket News Update
The Kolkata Knight Riders’ prolific pace bowler, Lakshmipathy Balaji, has heaped praise on their bowling coach and legendry Pakistani pacer, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wasim-Akram-c96292, saying that the side feels fortunate to have someone of Akram’s status in the coaching unit.
"All of us at KKR consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have someone like 'Wasim bhai' around us,” said the right-arm pacer from Chennai while talking to the media reporters. “The most endearing quality about him is that he always makes everyone feel
like he is just another guy. He makes you feel very comfortable and that is absolutely crucial. He is always approachable," he added further.
The 29-year-old medium pacer, who made his Test debut against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in the 2003-04 season. However, a career threatening
back injury next season kept him out of cricket for almost three years.
He came back to action in 2007 after playing in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kumar-Shri-Ranjitsinhji-c71870 Trophy in 2008. During the same season he recorded a hat-trick for Chennai Super Kings in the inaugural edition
of the lucrative Indian Premier League.
He also gave a noticeable performance with the ball in the last edition of IPL. He had been bowling some crucial spells for KKR all through the tournament and returned with 10 scalps in his name.
Replying to a query regarding his current form, Balaji said that the presence of experienced bowlers like Jacques Kallis and Brett Lee has helped him a lot.
“I benefited a lot by having experienced professionals like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Brett-Lee-c48419 around. They were also very approachable and passed some useful tips to me,” said the bowler at the sidelines of a CLT20 match.
He also said that his KKR captain, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/G-Gambhir-c1447, and team management played a key role in getting him back to his peak form.
"However what really helped me was that my captain, team-management and the owners backed me even when I did not perform as per expectations," said Balaji.
Since debuting in International cricket in 2002, Balaji has played 8 Tests and 30 One Day Internationals for India, picking up 27 and 34 wickets in each format respectively.
In first class cricket, the right-arm pacer has stunning figures of 272 wickets from 76 matches, at an average of 25.15 and an economy rate of just 2.88.
The pace bowler admitted that he needs to work a lot on bowling in the death overs as he conceded a lot of runs in his final spell in this year’s IPL.
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