From Chinnappampatti to Canberra, Natarajan’s yorkers take flight

English

Yorker specialist Natarajan, who picked up 16 wickets for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2020, had his moments in his first outing for India, getting two scalps for 70 runs in his quota of 10 overs. The 29-year-old dismissed Marnus Labuschagne after the makeshift opener inside edged a delivery onto the stumps in the sixth over.

Returning for his final spell, Natarajan was taken to the cleaners by Glenn Maxwell in his eighth over. But, the debutant came back strongly in his last two overs, conceding just eight runs and picking up the scalp of Ashton Agar. Despite being a bit expensive on the day, the man from the Chinnappampatti village in Salem gave a good account of himself.

As senior pros Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami are likely to take turns and feature in the upcoming three-match T20 series, Natarajan could also make his shortest format debut. Natarajan, who struggled to break into the SRH playing eleven before IPL 2020, has had a meteoric rise in the last couple of months.

Following consistent performances in IPL, the left-arm fast bowler was initially included as a net bowler for the Australia tour. Fortunately for him, Natarajan replaced Varun Chakaravarthy in the T20 squad as the mystery spinner was sidelined owing to an injury.

Recently, the Tamil Nadu-based player was inducted into the ODI set-up as a cover for Navdeep Saini.