Journey of a small-town pacer to IPL
Dee03 / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
T Natarajan – Thangarasu Natarajan – hails from Chinnappampatti, a small village 35 km from Salem in Tamil Nadu in the Southern part of India. He is the eldest of five siblings – three sisters and one brother.
For most of his life, he was worried about where the next food would come from or how he would buy the next set of books. He was on his way to becoming a coolie until he found cricket.
Natarajan started playing tennis ball cricket in the 5th grade, and he first saw a leather cricket ball when he was 20 years old. This was when he began playing for Chennai in the fourth division.
As Natarajan refers to him, his mentor, or Godfather, was JP, who helped him move to Chennai. Soon, his problems shifted from primary human needs to how to buy a shoe.
He played in the local tournaments and saved money to buy shoes and travel somewhere if and when he was called up for a trial or a match.
Players generally get to play Ranji Trophy after appearing in under-16, under-19, or under-23 to get into the Ranji Trophy team. Natarajan’s talent earned him a direct entry into the Tamil Nadu Ranji team. Just when things seemed to be going well, he was reported for a suspect action on debut.
Natarajan saw his dreams come crashing down. He did not give up, though.
He spent a year correcting his action and made a successful comeback in the first edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) in 2016. He became the talk of the town when he bowled six yorkers in a super over in a TNPL match against Indian international players like Abhinav Mukund and Washington Sundar.
That was his weapon – the Yorker.
Zerocric owner / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
Soon, KXIP picked him up for IPL 2017 for a whopping INR 3 Cr ($400K). It changed Natarajan’s life. He was finally going to be able to provide for his family. He could dream of a better future now. But all of this proved short-lived as he picked up an elbow injury during the 2017 Ranji Trophy.
He had a surgery and was back in the pool for IPL auctions when Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) picked him for the base price of 40 Lakh in 2018. He spent the first two years with SRH on the bench while working on his bowling with coaches like Muralitharan.
His focus was to get better at bowling and add a few extra yards to his pace. He did both.
By Danny Howard from San Francisco, CA, USA - We Are The Champions, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41528215
Good domestic performances forced SRH’s hand to pick Natarajan in the 2020 version of IPL. He has become their weapon in the final overs due to his uncanny ability to bowl yorkers after yorkers relentlessly. He was once asked who would you like to dismiss one day. He said, “Mahendra Singh Dhoni.”
He fulfilled that dream on 13th October 2020 in the 32nd match of the season.
The young lad seems promising enough to bowl yorkers and cutters for India alongside Jasprit Bumrah. Nothing suggests Natarajan wouldn’t push for it with all his might.
We salute Natarajan's perseverance and can't wait for him to represent India on the international stage!
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