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`To make it big, think big'

BONDING Cricketer L.Balaji and Dinesh Karthik share a great sense of humour photo: K. Pichumani

Lakshmipathy Balaji and Dinesh Karthik have a good sense of humour. And when the two get together, `good' gets `terrific'. Recently, when the cricketers teamed up at the newly-opened Adidas showroom in Shenoy Nagar for a Take Two, there was a lot of "machi-speak".

As Prince Frederick listened in their conversation, he heard a lot more than cricket.

Balaji: Hate to think I've a flight to catch this evening.

Dinesh: (laughs) Remember your first flight? You were scared to death.

Balaji: (laughs) Of course! (Thanks to Bharat Reddy Cricket Academy, Balaji and Dinesh went together to England to play junior-level cricket) But why do you have to bring it up now?

Dinesh: I'm just trying to tell you how far you've come from there. Now, you can pilot a plane. On our return flight from Pakistan, you were in the cockpit, weren't you?

Balaji: Yes, I was figuring out how it all works.

Dinesh: Ah, that's why we call you GB (Gadget Bala)! What's caught your fancy, lately?

Balaji: I'm exploring "iriver" (an audio jukebox).

Dinesh: I think you've taken after your dad, the great GK (General Knowledge as he is often referred to). He doesn't miss a thing. He knows a lot about even the streets we stay on, during tours.

Balaji: Hey, do you know your dad called me up and congratulated me on the Rawalpindi Test?

Dinesh: (Smiles) Yeah, he told me. I've told him how helpful your pep-talks have been. Remember what you told me during the last Zimbabwe series (when Dinesh was not among the runs)?

Balaji: No, I don't.

Dinesh: You said cricket was a mind game. To make it big, you've to think big. And that I should approach the game the way players like Sehwag did. I needed that talk.

Balaji: I was just giving you a view from the shoulder and passing on what my own failures had taught me. As a sportsman, you should be prepared for the day when things will not go your way. Then, you've to learn your lessons and move on. An injury during the one-day series in England kept me out of the game for a year. This wilderness experience taught me the importance of fitness.

Dinesh: I listen to you because I respect the way you play the game and also because you're one of the most lethal bowlers I've ever faced.

Balaji: (laughs) I know why you say that (Dinesh has played against Balaji six times and has been dismissed five times by the speedster).

Dinesh: Despite being a sitting duck (when I face you), you listen to me on the field. You pay attention to what I have to say from behind the stumps.

Balaji: Because your strategies have always worked. And I know that you'll snap up anything the batsman offers.

Dinesh: Anil (Kumble) bhai is like you - absolutely no ego.

Balaji: Anil bhai is a gentleman (They tell MetroPlus that Kumble speaks good Tamil and has been a guide to both).

Balaji: It's close to two. Yet to have my lunch. (Looks with a quizzical, `Are we done with it?'.)

Dinesh: I'll have lunch with you, if you promise to cook (Dinesh and Balaji cook their own food during overseas tours. Once Dinesh had a taste of Balaji's culinary talent and ever since he rags him about it).

Balaji: Machi, why do you want to invite trouble? In any case, I can't cook because I've to leave for the airport.

Dinesh: To pilot a plane?

Balaji: (laughs) Why not?

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