‘Wo muujhe maarta tha yaar’: Shoaib Akhtar says Lakshmipathy Balaji was his toughest opponent | Cricket News

In every sense, India’s tour of Pakan in 2004 was a horical one. It was a hard fought one where Sourav Ganguly-led India regered wins in Test and the ODIs.
Former Pakan pacer Shoaib Akhtar, who has terrorised batters with his speed admitted that Lakshmipathy Balaji was the toughest opponent he ever bowled as he never got him out.

“I remember that my toughest opponent. I used to feel threatened this batsman was SV Balaji. No not him, another Balaji, he was a bowler …. Lakshmipathy Balaji,” Akhtar told Sorabh Pant on his podcast ‘Wake Up With Sorabh.’

“Wo mujhe maarta tha yaar aakhir me aa kar (He used to beat me). He used to hate me like anything. I was all over the place man I could not get him out,” he recalled.
In the fifth ODI match at Lahore, with series level at 2-2, Balaji scored unbeaten 10 of six balls, including a six over mid-wicket of the bowling of Shoaib Akhtar.
In the 5-match ODI series, Balaji scored 45 runs out of which 35 runs came in boundaries (6 fours and 2 sixes). Balaji also took 6 wickets at an economy of under 6. Balaji finished as the joint-second highest wicket-taker along with Irfan Pathan in the Test series.
Balaji, who played 8 Tests, 30 ODIs and 5 T20Is between 2003 and 2012, has also said previously that the 2003/04 tour of Pakan was one of his greatest moments.

There were many start performers from both the team but the cricketer who hogged all the limelight was former India pacer Lakshmipathy Balaji. He was a fan favourite. The Pakani crowd used to erupt whenever Balaji used to come to bowl or bat. They had cheered for Balaji throughout the tour – often chanting Balaji, zara dheere chalo (“Balaji, go slow”) in chorus, parodying a superhit Bollywood number – but that was mostly because of his exploits with the ball and his famous grin. Most Read
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Balaji had said about that tour in a TNPL interview in 2016, “To be honest, I was embarrassed because I was the most famous player on that tour. There were so many big names, who looked after me like elder brothers, they were always there for me, and that tour helped me to get recognition.”
Former pacer Ashish Nehra was part of India’s squad had also shared the memory that the Pakan fans became so fond of Lakshmipathy Balaji, that the former pacer might have been more popular than Imran Khan during that tour.
“Those six weeks he [Balaji] was hitting sixes left right and centre there was no doubt about it. Virender Sehwag triple hundred, Rahul Dravid double hundred, Irfan Pathan performance, all that is there but to me off the field, Pakan, the nation as a whole and Laximathy Balaji in the dressing room,” Nehra had said.