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Set to leave for Colombo to replace Munaf, who has been ruled out due to a groin injury, Balaji said the success in domestic games has helped his return to the national side.
"I am very happy. At the moment, I have been bowling well and confident of my performance and giving 100 per cent," he said.
Balaji said he didn't set himself any time-frame for a return to the national side and just wanted to consistently perform at the domestic level.
"I have not really set any target in coming back to the Indian team. I was only wanting to bowl to my potential and show improvement and consistency. Recall to the team is a great boost to me," he said.
Balaji, who was instrumental in India's series win in Pakistan in 2004, incidentally had last played for India in a one-day game in 2005 in Dambulla.
A stress fracture nagged him in the 2004 tour of England and injuries continued to haunt him.
He has 11 wickets (including a hat-trick) to his credit in nine games for Chennai Super Kings, last year's finalists in the inaugural Indian Premier League.
Balaji was also instrumental in helping Tamil Nadu figure in the Ranji Trophy 2009 semi-finals with 36 wickets from seven games at 17.50.
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balaji deserving player
Balaji desrved the place.Kaushik go
thorogi,our town we dicided not to play cricket and even heare cricket news also,for 330 high class indian died in mumbai attack for that team not ready to go pak but 700 poor fisherman killed by srilankan army what step taken? for that s.l u are playing
I think there a reason behind having Balaji and also selection of Praveen kumar and Irfan Pathan for Srilanka series. They are looking out for swing bowlers for the upcoming NZ series...it is last frontier for India to conquer oversees...traditionally we have not performed well there(lost some close matches). They are expecting swing helpful pitches and I feel that is the reason behind going for Balaji as compared to Gony, who is more of Ishant type of bowler. I hope that is the reason as per my cricketing sense !!
Raj.. May I know what stats you are talking about? Could you let me know what Balaji had done in the domestic cricket circuit that Ranadeb Bose has not done? Why do we see so many people coming through from one state only? This is a case where Balaji himself is saying that he is not even thinking of making a comeback as he does not see himself as ready for that yet. As for Gony, that was only a case that I had mentioned. There is Ashok Dinda (Bengal), Sreesanth (Kerala), an allrounder from Mumbai (I forget te name), who have all perfored better than Balaji in the last couple of seasons. Next, by no stretch of imagination is Mishra a youngster and Ojha was first selected by Vengsarkar. Giving dada a farewell was a BCCI decision and had nothing to do with Srikanth.This may well prove to be a good move in retorspect. I just don't like the way it is done and also think Balaji deserved to make a comeback on his own merit rather than making a backdoor entry like this.
Srikanth has done exceptionally as chairman of selectors. Giving Dada huge Fairwell, bringing up all possible youngsters like Mishra, Ojha.. And Mr. Kaushik, Gony is not upto the mark as a bowler, And Balaji has been very consistent for th elast 1.5 years. u can recheck the Stats.. So its a gud decision
Where is Sreesanth?Can anyone tell me the logic of sending Balaji ahead of Sreesanth?Dhoni is autocratic ?
I feel Sree is still not match fit. He has to play more domestic cricket before Intenational apearance
While I liked Balaji since I saw him first, this news comes as a big surprise! I would imagine even Balaji wouldn't have thought this was possible but for kris Srikanth, who already had given M. Vijay a chance in the national team. If that is true, this is utterly shameful!!! Secondly, whatever hapened to the Goni guy who did so well in the IPL and also got a couple of games for India??? Has he fallen out of favour or just that the North Zone selector has gone to sleep??