T Natarajan: flourishing in his new role

T Natarajan has been one of the fairytale stories in the cricketing world. The cricketer who hails from Chinnappampatti village in Tamul Nadu has gone through numerous struggles to build his career. During his school days, Natarajan used to work at brick kilns, steel plants, and construction sites to help his struggling family make ends meet. Natarajan’s journey as a cricketer started from Chinnappampatti only. 

He first impressed IPL scouts in 2016 while playing for Dindigul Dragons in the inaugural Tamil Nadu Premier League. He picked ten wickets in seven matches at an economy rate of 7.33. His super over with a flurry of yorkers against Abhinav Mukund and Washington Sundar was the most discussed thing of the tournament and Natarajan opened a door for his entry into IPL. He was picked by Punjab Kings in 2017 and picked two wickets from the six games in the season. 

The selectors were impressed with Natarajan’s performance and he was picked as a net bowler for the Australian tour. However, injuries to a few senior players in the squad handed him his debut across that tour and he bowled very well. Natarajan has so far three Test wickets, three ODI wickets, and seven T20I scalps to his name. He played two games in the 2021 season but testing positive with Covid and a knee injury forced him to stay away from the game for a long time. SRH didn’t retain him ahead of the IPL 2022 but bought him back in the auction. It was anticipated that he will play the role of death specialist for the team but the scenario is completely different. 

To everyone’s surprise, Natarajan has played a very different role than what was expected of him. He has bowled in the powerplay, in the middle-overs, and the death overs. He has been using the left-arm angle very effectively with the seem movement in the powerplay, bowling tight line and lengths in the middle overs, and nailing the yorkers in death as usual. So far, he has picked 15 wickets from seven matches and is second in the list of highest wicket-takers at the time of writing. 

Even in the last game against RCB, he picked three wickets conceding just 10 runs. Natarajan has plaed a key role in uplifting SRH’s campaign after first two defeats and been superb. Mustafizur’s new role and versatility of bowling in different phases will make him a valuable pick in the game. 

With the advent of more and more power-hitters and the batters playing in a fearless manner, yorker becomes an more important weapon than ever. There are a few bowlers around the world who can bowl such toe-crushing yorkers and they are always important to win titles. Natarajan will be a key player for SRH in long term as he is evolving as a bowler and working on his abillities. The bowler will be knocking on the doors of the Indian team for the T20 World Cup in Australia this year and can also possibly put a strong fight for purple cap in the IPL 2022.