Left-arm pacer T. Natarajan has been each lucky and unlucky due to accidents.
Injuries to others helped him debut in all three codecs on the India tour of Australia in 2020-21. Injuries have hampered his profession since. He had sustained a knee damage in Australia and will play just one T20I and ODI versus visiting England in 2021.
Just when it appeared he had utterly recovered, the damage obtained aggravated to the extent that he needed to pull out of IPL (Indian Premier League) 2021 and endure surgical procedure and rehabilitation. Then, he was contaminated with COVID-19 and needed to miss out on the 2021 T20 World Cup.
He had his finest IPL in 2022 by way of wickets taken, bowling common and strike fee, and performed the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy event for Tamil Nadu (TN), however didn’t make the minimize for the 2022 T20 World Cup.
He was then named in Tamil Nadu’s squad the Vijay Hazare Trophy, solely to get replaced. The cause was his new damage.
“Had sustained a mild meniscus tear near my old knee injury in the last IPL. I trained at the NCA (National Cricket Academy) and got totally ready for and played the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Unfortunately, it caused problem again (close to the Vijay Hazare Trophy) and the coaching staff advised me to rest and get absolutely match-ready. Everytime I’m almost in the radar (for national call-up), I’m plagued by misfortune. Hopefully, god-willing, if again I do well this IPL, maybe I’ll get considered this year.
“For me, the IPL has been the main thing from where I got into the Indian team. So, if I do well in the IPL like last year and stay injury-free, hopefully chances are there for me to be considered,” he stated, talking on the sidelines of the Chennai section ultimate of the Junior Super Kings inter-school T20 event on the Guru Nanak College floor right here on Tuesday.
By his personal admission, Natarajan struggled to bowl in-swing early and that talent is now fully-developed, having labored on it since 2019. So, he says he may even bowl with the brand new ball if entrusted. He refuses to be slotted because the middle-over or the death-over bowler and says he’s a situational bowler.
“I can bowl at any stage; have prepared my mindset like that. The team wants me to bowl in some situation means they believe in me for that situation. I then try and deliver.”
Data says you possibly can absolutely guess on him to ship together with his yorkers. At least, a bit of statistic from the 2020 IPL does. During the second qualifier between Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Delhi Capitals (DC), it was flashed that he had bowled essentially the most yorkers by a pacer in that version – 66.
Apart from mastering the extremely exhausting talent of bowling the yorker, what’s much more wonderful is his supreme self-belief that he can negate the danger that entails bowling yorkers by completely nailing them. The yorker to AB de Villiers within the 2020 IPL eliminator towards Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is proof sufficient that he can nail it in a crunch scenario to a well-set clutch participant in a high-stakes conflict.
“For yorkers, you need extra strength, be extra skillful, and need to practise a lot! It’s extra hard work!”
Asked about his views on the brand new Impact Player rule, which is about to be launched in IPL 2023, he stated, “Can’t say for sure how it is going to be, how different it will be. Personally, I needn’t go bat, someone else would go instead of me (laughs). It’s definitely going to be so much fun, that’s for sure!”