Former Indian cricketer Ajay Jadeja applauded T Natarajan, who impressed everyone with his bowling figures of 3/78 on debut, and said that his life’s direction has changed in the last 44 days.
T Natarajan’s rise in international cricket has been staggering and extraordinary. Natarajan's brilliance in IPL 2020 earned him his maiden India call-up for the Australia tour as he was added to the T20I squad after Varun Chakravarthy got injured and then was later added as the cover for pacer Navdeep Saini in last two ODIs.
With almost dozen players from the Indian contingent sustaining injuries ahead of fourth Test-match of ongoing Border-Gavaskar trophy, T Natarajan was included in the Test-squad as replacement of Umesh Yadav and made his debut in the ongoing fourth Test-match at Gabba, Brisbane.
T Natarajan impressed everyone with his bowling in the Brisbane Test, finishing with 3/78 that included the wickets of Matthew Wade and centurion Marnus Labuschagne, whom he dismissed in back-to-back overs and brought India back in the game.
Former Indian batsman, Ajay Jadeja, spoke highly of T Natarajan, who became the first Indian cricketer to make debuts in all three formats for India on the same tour, and said that his life’s direction has changed in last 44 days.
“You feel very happy for him because of the sort of journey he has had. His life's direction has changed in the last 44 days. He was not selected in the T20 format also and came in as a replacement for the injured Chakravarthy.
He bowled 20 overs on the first day, so he has shown that he has the stamina. Out of the 63 runs he conceded, 15-odd runs came in the last couple of overs. So, he was economical and because of that he got two wickets as well," Ajay Jadeja told Sony sports network.
Ajay Jadeja, 49, further was impressed by composure T Natarajan showed in his bowling and said that it was a very good day for him.
"You might dream to take 5 wickets on your first day, but if you see realistically it was a very good day for any young player because forget the bowling, you have to first overcome the nerves.
He has not even got prepared by playing under-19 or A tours, he has directly played Test cricket from the short format after 40 days. So, I am most impressed by the composure he showed in his bowling," he said.
T Natarajan added a unique record to his name after being included in the side for the Brisbane Test as the former became the fastest player to play all three-formats for India in international cricket.
It took only 44 days for the talented fast bowler to debut in all formats of international cricket for the country.
(Sony Sports Network Inputs)
