T Natarajan and David Waner in IPL 2020
T Natarajan was arguably the revelation of the recently-included IPL 2020. The left-arm pacer burst out with his pinpoint accuracy and established his place in the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) bowling set-up. Making his presence felt in UAE conditions, he duly filled the void left by veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Natarajan, with his yorkers at the death, provided his side with many much-needed breakthroughs. His excellent yorker to dismiss Royal Challengers Bangalore's AB de Villiers was even hailed as best delivery of the tournament by many fans.
Natarajan, following his performances in the Tamil Nadu Premier League, had got picked by Kings XI Punjab for INR 3 crores back in 2017. However, it was SRH who gave an opportunity to him and the 29-year-old grabbed it with both hands. He scalped 16 wickets in 16 games and also earned maiden India call-up for the upcoming T20I series in Australia.
After a majestic IPL season, Natarajan was showered with praises from all corners. Former India skipper Kapil Dev also lauded the pacer's yorker and labelled him the 'hero' of this year's IPL season.
“Natarajan was my hero of the IPL. Young buy was fearless and bowled so many yorkers. The yorker is the best ball, not only today but even in the last 100 years,” Kapil Dev told Ayaz Memon at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.
As Team India has started its training sessions in Australia, Natarajan has been sweating it out in the nets. He had an extended bowling session at the nets on Sunday and bowled to almost all the top-order batsmen of the Indian camp.
"We have seen him bowl with a lot of success in the @IPL and here is @Natarajan_91 bowling in the #TeamIndia nets for the first time after his maiden India call-up! A dream come true moment," the BCCI had tweeted.
