T Natarajan impressed one and all on his ODI debut for India in Canberra against Australia. He picked his maiden wicket early, dismissing Marnus Labuschagne. He also picked the wicket of Ashton Agar to finish with figures of 2/70 in 10 overs.
The Tamil Nadu left-arm pacer was the toast of IPL 2020 in UAE when he showed his ability to bowl yorkers at will and trouble batsmen with his change of pace. He became an important bowler for his franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad after Bhuvneshwar Kumar was ruled out due to a hip injury early in the tournament.
Natarajan first appeared in the Indian Premier League in 2017, when Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) bought him for INR 3 crore in the auction. This was on the basis of his performances in the Tamil Nadu Premier League.
The then KXIP mentor, Virender Sehwag, who is currently part of the commentary panel for Sony Sports Network, recalled discovering Natarajan after being asked by a fan on social media.
“I was very happy because when I had picked Natarajan in the IPL for the Kings XI Punjab, everyone was asking questions that this player has come who has not even played domestic cricket and came after playing just the TNPL league, so how he was picked at such a huge price,” Sehwag, who was KXIP mentor at the time, said.
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“I was not bothered about the money but there is a talent. We had a few Tamil Nadu players in our team at the time who told me that he is a very good player who bowls very well in the slog overs and delivers a perfect yorker.
I saw his videos and then decided that we will surely take him at the auction because we did not have a death bowler. Unfortunately that year, he had an injury to the elbow or the knee because of which he could not play too many matches. But we won only the matches that he played in and lost all the other matches,” Sehwag added.
Unfortunately, Natarajan got to play only 6 matches in IPL 2017 for KXIP and picked two wickets for them. He was then released and then bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2018 IPL auction, but only played for them in IPL 2020, picking 16 wickets in 16 matches.
Sehwag further opined on Natarajan’s selection in Team India for the white-ball leg of the Australian tour.
“So I was very excited to see that he was getting an opportunity although I was thinking that he would be given a chance in the T20Is it was a surprise for me that he was played in the ODIs. But whatever happened was good. All the best to T Natarajan. I hope that he keeps on doing well from here and makes his place in the Indian team,” Sehwag signed off.
