T Natarajan (Thangarasu Natarajan) widely known as a yorker specialist made his International ODI debut in December 2, 2020. Natarajan (A) Nattu travels from almost being a coolie in Chinnappampatti to a million dollar baby in the IPL, T Natarajan’s journey as a cricketer is worth the read.
He first came into some limelight when he represented the team of BSNL in Tamil Nadu Cricket Association’s fourth division league. Natarajan then played 1st division cricket for Vijay Cricket Club for almost a year. Later, he moved to Jolly Rovers, a popular club that has fielded big names like Ravichandran Ashwin and Murali Vijay.
T Natarajan Details
FULL NAME |
Thangarasu Natarajan |
BIRTHDAY & PLACE |
May 27, 1991. Chinnappampatti, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India |
AGE |
29 years |
| NATIONAL SIDE | India |
| BATTING STYLE | Left Handed |
BOWLING |
Left-arm medium-fast |
| BATTING RANK | Test – NA, ODI – NA, World Cup – NA, T20I – NA, IPL – NA, CL – NA |
| BOWLING RANK | Test – NA, ODI – NA, World Cup – NA, T20I – NA, IPL – NA, CL – NA |
| TEAMS PLAYED | Tamil Nadu, Dindigul Dragons, Kings XI Punjab, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Lyca Kovai Kings, India |
MAN OF THE MATCH |
Test – NA, ODI – NA, World Cup – NA, T20I – NA, IPL – NA, CL – NA, |
CAREER SPAN |
[Test, NA], [ODI, 2020*], [World Cup, NA], [T20I, NA], [IPL, 2017*], [CL, NA], |
Family
- Natarajan’s father worked as a porter at a railway station, his mother runs a road-side snack stall.
- As the eldest of five siblings, including three sisters, Natarajan was always worried about taking care of his family. But his cricketing skill has been a savior for the Natarajan family.
T Natarajan’s Mentor
Natarajan’s early promise was spotted by A Jayaprakash, a division cricketer from Natarajan’s village. Jayaprakash urged him to work harder and excel at the game. Jayaprakash was convinced about the young boy’s abilities and potential to make it big.
He left no stone unturned to motivate and support Natarajan. Inspired by his fellow villager’s encouraging words, the young lad moved to Chennai and joined a cricket club in the city.
It was evident when Natarajan invited his friends to watch an IPL 2017 match in Bengaluru and then introduced them to Punjab skipper Glenn Maxwell, senior cricketers David Miller, Darren Sammy, Axar Patel, and assistant coach R Sridhar.
Career
- T Natarajan made his first-class debut for Tamil Nadu in the 2014–15 Ranji Trophy on 5 January 2015.
- He made his Twenty20 debut for Tamil Nadu in the 2016–17 Inter-State Twenty-20 Tournament on 29 January 2017.
- T Natarajan made his List A debut for Tamil Nadu in the 2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy on 20 September 2018.
- In February 2017, he was bought by the Kings XI Punjab team for the 2017 Indian Premier League for ₹3 crores (US$420,000).
- Nattu was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2018 IPL auction.
- In December 2020, he made his international ODI debut and T20I debut in Australia tour under Virat Kohli‘s captaincy.
- On January 15, 2021, T Natarajan makes his International Test debut against Australia and becomes the first Indian cricketer to make his all 3 debuts on the same tour.
T Natarajan Career Stats
Test Debut |
Australia vs India at The Gabba, Brisbane, January 15, 2021 |
Last Test |
NA |
ODI Debut |
Australia v India at Manuka Oval, Canberra, December 2, 2020 |
Last ODI |
NA |
T20 Debut |
Australia v India at Manuka Oval, Canberra, December 4, 2020 |
Last T20 |
NA |
IPL
Portrayed as India’s Mustafizur Rahman, KXIP picked him up 3 crores for IPL 2017 after his sterling performances in the domestic season and in the first season of TNPL as well.
T Natarajan made his IPL debut on Kings XI Punjab vs Rising Pune Supergiants, on 08-04-2017 at Holkar Cricket Stadium. He played in 6 games in his debut IPL season and picked up 2 wickets. That was anti-climactic but was a good learning curve for someone so raw.
Also read: Sehwag explains why KXIP roped T Natarajan for 3 crores in IPL 2017
Natarajan missed the 2017-18 season of Ranji season owing to an elbow injury but was still picked up during the 2018 IPL auctions by SRH for 40 lakhs. However, he was benched for the entire season with plenty of experienced campaigners competing for the role.
In IPL 2020 T Natarajan played 16 matches and bagged 16 wickets at an economy of 8.02. In IPL 2020 Nattu was widely spoked for his yorkers particularly in death overs.
ODI
After being consistent in IPL 2020 T Natarajan has dragged into the Indian squad for the Australia tour in December 2020. Natarajan was named as one of four additional bowlers to travel with the India cricket team for their tour to Australia.
Ahead of the first One Day International (ODI) match, he was added to India’s squad as a cover for Navdeep Saini, who suffered from a back spasm. Finally, the much-awaited moment for Natarajan happens as he made his ODI debut for India against Australia on 2 December 2020.
T Natarajan opened his account in the International wicket section by dismissing Marnus Labuschagne in the first ODI he played.
T20I
Prior to making his ODI debut, Natarajan travels as an additional bowler for team India. Nattu then added to India’s Twenty20 International (T20I) squad, replacing Varun Chakravarthy who was ruled out due to an injury.
T Natarajan made his T20I debut against Australia on December 4, 2020. As of the ODI Nattu made his maiden international T20I wicket in the debut match. T Natarajan dismissed Glenn Maxwell to register his maiden T20I wicket.
Test
In the Australia tour of India in December 2020 T Natarajan remains as the net bowler after his T20I and ODI debut in the same tour. After Indan star bowlers faces back-to-back injuries team India dragged T Natarajan into the playing XI for the last test vs Australia on 15th January 2021.
With his Test debut on 15th January 2021 T Natarajan becomes the first Indian to make an international debut in all 3 formats on the same tour.
Welcome to Test cricket, @Natarajan_91 🤩
Thangarasu Natarajan becomes the first Indian player to make his International debut across all three formats during the same tour 👏#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/CKltP2uT5w
— ICC (@ICC) January 14, 2021
Achievements
- T Natarajan has two 4 wickets haul for Tamil Nadu to his name in first-class cricket.
- Playing for Dindigul Dragons, he nailed six yorkers which were seen by the franchise and SRH picked him.
Batting Stats
| M | Inn | NO | Runs | HS | Avg | BF | SR | 100 | 200 | 50 | 4s | 6s | |
| ODI | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T20I | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| IPL | 22 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 60 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Bowling Stats
| M | Inn | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Econ | Avg | SR | 5W | 10W | |
| ODI | 1 | 1 | 70 | 2 | 2/70 | 2/70 | 7 | – | – | – | – |
| T20I | 1 | 1 | 30 | 3 | 3/30 | 3/30 | 7.5 | – | – | – | – |
| IPL | 22 | 22 | 619 | 18 | 2/24 | 2/24 | 8.2 | 34.39 | 25.17 | 0 | 0 |
