T Natarajan (middle)
T Natarajan has been the story to tell in India's limited-overs journey so far in Australia this year. On the back of a single IPL season, in the UAE this year, Natarajan found a place in the Indian limited-overs squad for the tour of Australia, which is a story in itself. But going and bagging the debut cap in both the formats in one tour and standing out with his bowling performance in all the three games he played so far is what makes the story better. What makes it best is his performance in the T20I series in Canberra on Friday and in Sydney on Sunday which, still early days but shows that he can give a new dimension to India's T20I attack.
With India wanting to look at new faces after conceding the first two ODI matches to hand Australia an unassailable 2-0 lead, Natarajan was handed his first international cap, at the Manuka Oval. He finished with 2 for 70 which included India's first powerplay wicket in the last six ODI matches as he got Marnus Labuschagne crammed for room with a nip-backer on length.
A day later, Natarajan was handed his T20I cap at the same venue after having impressed captain Virat Kohli with his composure in the third ODI. And he did not disappoint. The left-armer finished with 3 for 30, conceding runs and 7.50 an over with seven dot balls with the highlight being the game-changing dismissal of Glenn Maxwell with a skiddy length delivery that left the batsman clueless that struck plumb on his bag leg. Although, the dismissal of his Aussie counterpart, Mitchell Starc, was more breathtaking - a yorker in the blockhole that messed the stumps.
Natarajan continued to impress with his economical 2 for 20 in four overs on an evening where 389 runs were scored at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Australia were cruising comfortably on 46 for no loss in four overs and Natarajan provided India with the first breakthrough in the fifth over, dismissing D'Arcy Short with a shortish delivery. He started off with a tight line close to the stumps before testing the batsman with a short ball which he holed out to Shreyas Iyer deep square leg.
Natarajan then dished out his slower deliveries and Steve Smith was beaten off one in his first delivery at the crease. Against Maxwell, Natarajan kept a tight line, disallowing any room for error. Natarajan conceded just seven runs in his first two overs with five dot balls and a wicket.
But it was the 15th over that showed that Natarajan is capable of bowling more than just yorkers. Fans all over Twitter have hailed him as the next 'yorker king' having delivered 96 yorkers in 16 matches - which in itself adds up to 16 overs of just one variety. The next best was on Anrich Nortje with 64 yorkers. But to survive in white-ball cricket a bowler needs more than just one variety and Natarajan showed that he is capable of meeting the international standards. He started the over with a low full toss on leg to Moises Henriques before watching the slower one sneaking under the attempted sweep from Smith. He continued to deceive Smith with a back-of-a-length ball outside off that the batsman only managed to drag a thick inside-edge onto his pads.
Natarajan returned in the penultimate over with another deceptive slower ball, this time off length and down the outside-off channel that Henriques looked to slog through midwicket but nicked it behind to wicketkeeper KL Rahul. His spell ended with a boundary slapped through the covers by Daniel Sams off a shortish ball, the only four he conceded in the four overs he bowled. Natarajan's economical day out in Sydney helped India save "10-15 runs" as admitted by Hardik Pandya who felt that the left-armer should have been adjudged as the Man of the Match instead of him.
"I told him [Natarajan] during the presentation, I thought he'll be the Man of the Match, but as they say, it's become a batsman's game," Pandya said in the post-match virtual conference. "Where everyone's economy was high, he actually put the brakes on Australia's innings. The 10-15 runs he saved, I thought that was the difference, because if you look at the way Australia started and how they ended, the first thing I said when we got into the dressing room was that they were 10-15 runs short, and we'll win if we play normal cricket, and that was what mattered in the end."
The one aspect that has been missing from India's nowling attack for quite a while now has been the absence of a left-arm quick. There was a time when as many as four were in contention for a spot in the lineup - Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra and RP Singh. But over the last few years, the numbers of such variety has been grimm. India did managed to unearth a few and give them opportunities - Barinder Sran, Jaydev Unadkat, Khaleel Ahmed among a few, but none managed to stake their claim. Natarajan has so far managed to start well but in a bid to cement his spot for the World T20 next year, he needs to show consistency in his upcoming matches - in the thrid T20I in Sydney and the England series at home.
