Lakshmipathy Balaji (born 27 September 1981) is an Indian cricket coach and former cricketer. He is a right arm

fast medium Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

bowler. He announced his retirement from first-class and

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

cricket in November 2016. He was the bowling coach for

Chennai Super Kings Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 2008, the team plays its home matches at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The team is owned by India ...

, his former side in the Indian Premier League.

Personal life

Lakshmipathy Balaji was born on 27 September 1981 in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Tamil Nadu, India Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. He married former

Miss Chennai Miss Chennai was a city beauty pageant in Chennai, India, which operated under the parent organization VIBA between 1999 and 2009. The competition's first winner was Trisha Krishnan, and several of the participants from the pageant went on to mak ...

beauty pageant Priya Thalur in 2013.

International cricket

Balaji became a member of the

Indian cricket team The India men's national cricket team, also known as Team India or the Men in Blue, represents India in men's international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and is a Full Member of the International ...

as Fast Medium bowler in 2003. Playing for his state team since 2001, he made his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

debut against New Zealand at

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...

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 International cricket matches are played between teams representing their nations, normally organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The main forms are Test matches, One-Day matches and Twenty20 matches. Most games are played ...

career was put on hold. He made a comeback in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

'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 Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

reach the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cr ...

semifinals, Balaji was called up to the international squad in January 2009 to replace an injured

Munaf Patel Munaf Patel (born 12 July 1983) is a former Indian cricketer who played all formats of the game. He has also played for the West Zone in the Duleep Trophy and Gujarat, Mumbai cricket team and Maharashtra cricket team in domestic arena. In Nove ...

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 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

match. In February the

BCCI The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the worl ...

announced that Balaji had been dropped from the ODI squad to tour New Zealand but had been selected for the

test squad Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

. 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

team in the 1st 3 editions of the IPL starting from the

2008 Indian Premier League The 2008 Indian Premier League season was the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League, established by the BCCI in 2007. The season commenced on 18 April 2008 with the final match was held on 1 June 2008. The competition started with a doub ...

. On 10 May 2008, he picked up the first

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

of the IPL tournament in the match against

Kings XI Punjab Punjab Kings (PBKS) are a franchise cricket team based in Mohali, Punjab, that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Established in 2008 as the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), the franchise is jointly owned by Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia, Preity Zi ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, and rounded off the evening with a match-winning

five-wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman. Takin ...

. His tournament was to end on a low as he bowled the final over to

Shane Warne Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer, whose career ran from 1991 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-handed batsman for Victoria, Hampshire and Australia ...

and

Sohail Tanvir Sohail Tanvir ( ur, ; born 12 December 1984) is a Pakistani cricketer, who has gained considerable international repute for his unorthodox left arm bowling action and particularly for the success it has gained him in the Twenty20 format of the ...

, 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

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 The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...

, he picked four wickets against Rajasthan Royals on 30 April 2009, leading the

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 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian former international cricketer who was captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He is also the curren ...

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 Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are a franchise cricket team representing the city of Kolkata in the Indian Premier League. The franchise is owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, actress Juhi Chawla and her spouse Jay Mehta. The Knight Riders p ...

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

Coaching career

He was appointed as bowling coach and mentor for

. For the 2018 IPL edition, he was appointed as the bowling coach for

. He decided to take a one-year break from the post in 2022, citing personal reasons, but continued to be available for Super Kings Academy.

References

Sources

L Balaji calls time on first-class, List A career
16 September 2016 {{DEFAULTSORT:Balaji, Lakshmipathy 1981 births Living people India Test cricketers India One Day International cricketers India Twenty20 International cricketers Indian cricketers Tamil Nadu cricketers Tamil sportspeople Chennai Super Kings cricketers Kolkata Knight Riders cricketers South Zone cricketers Wellington cricketers India Green cricketers India Red cricketers Cricketers from Chennai Indian cricket coaches Punjab Kings cricketers