Chennai: He might have lost Saturday night’s match against Chennai Super Kings but Yuvraj Singh is happy with the way comeback paceman Laxmipati Balaji performed against Kings XI Punjab.

Balaji came up with a five-for performance and that included IPL’s first hat-trick.

“I am happy about Balaji’s come back. He bowled superbly. It is good for Indian cricket. He had never been the fastest but he is always deceptive particularly with old ball.”

“I am extremely happy for him and a hat trick is a rarity in this format of the game,” he told reporters after the match, which his team lost by 18 runs.

The Punjab skipper blamed inconsistency for the defeat.

“We bowled pretty well in the early overs but lost the momentum in between. The same thing happened with our batting too. Though it was not a great start, Marsh and Sarwan steadied our innings.”

“We lost too many wickets quickly. That of Sarwan, Marsh and myself and there we lost our match,” he opined.

On sending Sarwan up the order, he said,”It was one of the things that you need to do in such format of the game. He was off to a good start and batted well with Marsh.”

Coach Tom Moody believes in moving ahead and that was his message to his team. “We can come back despite Saturday’s loss. It was one of those days that you lose a game. We have a big match coming up against Bangalore. We will try to move on and win the remaining matches.”

S Badrinath, who played a vital knock of 64 runs for the winners, was happy that he could contribute in his team’s win.

“I do not get chances like this since our batting line up is strong. I had a chance today (Saturday) and used it well. I always wanted to play the first six balls straight to get my eye in.”

“I was middling the ball well to launch myself and gained confidence,” he said.

He also praised Balaji for his brilliant bowling show.

“It is a sweet come back for him. You do not get to see a bowler claiming hat trick in this format. He has been working hard after injury and it paid off,” he said.
Source: sports.in.msn.com