‘I’ll fall back upon him when situation goes out of control’: Balaji picks leader of India's pace attack for WTC Final

Former Indian pacer Laxmipathy Balaji reckoned that Sharma's experience of playing county cricket and touring with the Test team multiple times will prove to be handy in the upcoming England tour.

The World Test Championship (WTC) final between India and New Zealand-- slated to begin on June 18 in Southampton-- continues to remain a hot topic for discussion among former cricketers, pundits and fans. Even though the huge finale is more than three weeks away, the buzz around the game is on a steep increase.

CSK bowling coach Laxmipathy Balaji (Twitter)

Former India pacer L. Balaji has also jumped on the bandwagon. In an interview with Cricket Next recently, Balaji shed light on various aspects of the Indian bowling department. With the likes of Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ishant Sharma in the ranks, the anticipation of how they would perform continues to grow.

One particular aspect that former right-arm pacer Balaji talked about was the leader of the pack. For that, he picked Delhi pacer Sharma. The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bowling coach reckoned that Sharma's experience of playing county cricket and touring with the Test team multiple times will prove to be handy in the upcoming Tour, which will also see a five-match Test series against the host nation.

"At the moment, I will go with Ishant, Bumrah and Shami as the top three. There is always going to be a selection dilemma, a good dilemma, where the other exceptional talent will put you under pressure. I would look at how the English pitches behave. Ishant has done well there, bowled match-winning spells there, toured with the Test teams three times there. I will use his English county experience of the recent past (Sussex, 2018).

"He is the leader of the pack. I will put Bumrah and Shami with Ishant, three totally different bowlers where Ishant can play defence and the other two can be on the offence. Ishant with the new ball can be on the offence against the left-handers. I will fall back upon Ishant when the situation goes out of control. He can put things back in place," Balaji told News18.

Balaji, who recently recovered from Covid-19, expects the pace trio to be successful in England. If one is to go by their numbers, which reads a staggering 149 wickets in the 11 Tests the three speedsters have played together, Balaji's predictions don't seem too far-fetched.