Tamil Nadu pacer Lakshmipathy Balaji will replace injured fast bowler Munaf Patel for the rest of the matches in the ongoing India-SL ODI series in Sri Lanka. With this he has earned a return call to the national team after nearly three years.

 

Earlier, Munaf injured his groin during a warm-up game. He just bowled 5 overs in the first ODI. He was left out of the playing eleven in the second match in Colombo and paved the way for the 27-year-old Balaji to make a comeback into the national team. Meanwhile, Munaf will undergo a rehabilitation process and would need more than a week to get fit.

 

Interestingly, Balaji last played an ODI in August 2005 in Sri Lanka. After that he was forced out of the game due to a back injury, for which he underwent a surgery. He will fly to Colombo on Monday (2nd February) night and join the Indian team there.

 

Last year Balaji made a comeback with excellent performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL), taking 11 wickets from 9 games including a hat-trick, for the runners-up Chennai Super Kings. In this season Ranji Trophy he played a crucial role in taking Tamil Nadu to the semi-finals. In total 7 matches he took 36 wickets at an average of 17.5.