'Another Divine Intervention Needed'

He has thrived on a "God-given opportunity"once and is now eyeing another such bounty to establish his credentials as astrike bowler.

Lakshmipathy Balaji, who made it to the Indian squadfor the Australia series only on account of injury to Mumbai seamer AvishkarSalvi, is counting on his luck after having made an impression Down Under withhis under-stated determination.

"I might have performed well in Australia. But Iam now looking forward to Pakistan, of course I should get selected first,"the 22-year-old speedster said.

"I am praying to God that he give me yet anotheropportunity to show my mettle because India-Pakistan matches generate so manyelectrifying moments," said the right-arm medium pacer who picked 13wickets from ten one-day matches in the Australian tri-series.

Although Balaji did not play in the four Tests, hefeatured in all of India's outings in the tri-series -- again largely due to theinjury-induced absence of Zaheer Khan and briefly that of Ashish Nehra.

And the bowler did not disappoint, managing to containthe rampaging Aussie batsmen to a great extent.

"I am more than happy about my performance. It wasa learning experience. I rate this as a God-given opportunity and a memorableone at that," he said.

"I was happy to be part of the team, though Imissed out on figuring in the eleven for the Test matches. The senior players,particularly my captain (Saurav Ganguly) and (Sachin) Tendulkar were of greathelp to me."Thanks to them and the other members of the touring squad, I was able toperform. The experience there will hold me in good stead in the comingyears," said Balaji.

The Tamil Nadu new-ball bowler also gave credit for hisperformance to "the pitches in Australia which are tailor-made for pacebowlers. The wickets are bouncy and the lateral movement always helps a bowlerlike me to do better."

Rating the pitch in Perth as the best among the Aussiewickets, Balaji said the recipe for success against batsmen like Adam Gilchristand Ricky Ponting was "sticking to a good line and length".

"I was able to prevent the two hard hitters of thegame from going berserk by just sticking to a good line and length," hesaid revealing that his trip to Australia earlier had helped him on the recenttour.

"I was a beneficiary of the Allan Border-GavaskarAcademy scholarship scheme. In 2002, I was selected by the National CricketAcademy for fast bowling training under the Australian Cricket Board Academy inAdelaide. That tour gave me an idea about the conditions of the pitch and theweather."

Balaji was all praise for the support and advice givento him throughout by the seniors.

"More than anything, the brotherhood shown by theseniors made me live up to their expectations. They used to correct me if Ierred in line or length and advised me to bowl properly. It is very hard to getsuch an excellent captain who is always thinking about better performance by histeam-mates," he said.

PTI