Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper David Warner while talking about the injury of T Natarajan which is keeping him out of the action at IPL 2021 said that he’s unsure when the left-arm pacer will return and explained how bio-bubble restrictions are playing a role in his recovery.
T Natarajan missed his second game in a row for his team in IPL 14 as SRH defeated Punjab Kings (PBKS) to register their first win of the season.
The left-arm pacer suffered niggle in his left knee and first missed the Mumbai Indians (MI) clash on April 17 and then later missed the second match against PBKS on April 21.
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While talking about the same during press conference SRH skipper David Warner said that T Natarajan needs to go for a scan of his 'sore knee'.
However, he added, the strict bio-bubble restrictions which will require the pacer to undergo 7 days of quarantine before re-entering the bubble is a major roadblock.
"He obviously has got a sore knee. Given the circumstances in these bubbles, if he goes and gets a scan, he obviously has to sit out for seven days; he has to go back into quarantine. We are just monitoring at the moment.
The physios are doing their best to analyze from a face point of view. But he obviously has to go and have a scan at some point,” David Warner said during a virtual press conference.
T Natarajan’s injury proved to be a blessing in disguise for Khaleel Ahmed, who shined with the ball in both the matches for SRH and returned with the figures of up 1 for 24 and 3 for 21 against Mumbai Indians (MI) and Punjab Kings respectively.
Natarajan had a breakout IPL 2020 season, where he ascertained himself as a bowler who could bowl yorkers. The Tamil Nadu pacer bowled 71 yorkers in the last season- the most yorkers by any bowler-and picked 16 wickets at an economy of 8.02.
He started IPL 2021 in a decent way picking two wickets in his first two games against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
The David Warner-led franchise would be hoping that left-arm pacer recovers soon and would be vital to their changes going ahead into the tournament.
(ESPNCricinfo inputs)
