Balaji puts India and himself in the swing of things

He proved why today, with a spell of swing bowling that almost seemed, here in Pakistan, like carrying coals to Newcastle. By the time he’d picked up his best-ever haul of 4-63, and helped his team bowl Pakistan out for 224, Balaji had given the Rawalpindi crowd a glimpse of bowling they won’t see from their own hometown boy Shoaib Akhtar.

As the teams left the stadium, the longest line of autograph-hunters was in front of Balaji. It’s something he should get used to, it’s happened so often. First, the song in his name (‘‘Balaji, zara dheere chalo’’, in case anyone forgot) coined by the Peshawar crowd and adopted by the Indian team.

And on Friday, when four Indian players went to the Lahore University of Management Studies for an interactive session, Balaji was the most popular. That, given the fact that he was sharing the dais with the likes of Rahul Dravid, says something.

But it’s not just the public who are appreciating his simple, direct and hard-working approach to the game. His teammates have, too: the Indian team management sought a tape of the LUMS show from the broadcaster so that it could be played at the team meeting.

‘‘We just wanted to show how popular Bala has become’’, said a team official, ‘‘it’s an inspiration to everyone.’’

Balaji himself was typically shy when asked about this. ‘‘I just don’t know why all this is happening…’’, he told The Indian Express.

There’s a good reason why it’s happening, of course: his bowling. After initial waywardness this morning, which can be put down to the inexperience of bowling first on such a pitch, Balaji found his length, line and rhythm and stuck to what he has been talking about all along this tour: trying to ‘‘bowl wicket to wicket’’.

The number of times the Tamil Nadu seamer beat the bat would have frustrated any other bowler but Balaji just kept smiling — and swinging.

One key difference today from his earlier bowling was how he got the ball to swing in late and trap two batsmen, Umar and Kamal, plumb in front.

Indeed, by coming in closer to the stumps, he is no longer the one-dimensional inswing bowler of a few months ago.

He appeared to be thorughly satisfied with his day’s work and was thrilled to bits. ‘‘At the back of my mind I always kept telling myself about the first two Tests’’, he told this reporter.

‘‘I did not pull my weight in the team and had to do so today. I was glad that my disciplined effort came off very well.’’