Most of the Indian players attended the celebrations of Tamil Nadu Cricket Association completing 75 years on January 26. As a Tamil Nadu player, Laxmipathy Balaji was also present. Sandeep Dwivedi writes in The Indian Express of his new cell-phone ring tone, why he doesn't sign autographs anymore and his career-threatening injury.
Balaji's famous toothy smile is there, his thick mop of hair still needs to be regimented regularly but a stress fracture of the back means he has to be in casuals and sit behind the Men in Blue.
Watching the just healed pacers Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar sitting in the front row and remembering the missing faces of Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel and Ashish Nehra, it seemed Balaji's ring tone was more like the signature tune of the fitness-fragile India pace department.
