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Thangarasu Natarajan, from tennis ball star in Salem to yorker king for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2020

Thangarasu Natarajan, from tennis ball star in Salem to yorker king for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2020. Natarajan impressed against Delhi Capitals with a slew of yorkers in the backend of the innings.

Natarajan impressed against Delhi Capitals with a slew of yorkers in the backend of the innings

Bengaluru, September 30: Who is Thangarasu Natarajan? That could be the questions on everybody's mind after former Australian pace bowler Brett Lee lavished praise on the Sunrisers Hyderabad quick saying his effort in the death overs set a model for everyone else to follow.

Lee wrote on his Twitter handle: "That's how you bowl at the back end of an innings! Outstanding Natarajan."

Natarajan started off with the new ball alongside Bhuvneshwar Kumar and conceded 12 runs in his first two overs, that itself an achievement because he was bowling the Power Plays to the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer.

After his first spell, Sunrisers captain David Warner gave the ball to Natarajan in the 14th over of the innings and the pacer showed his full class from thereon. It was the time Delhi Capitals were trying to push the chase and Rishabh Pant and Shimron Hetmyer were at the crease then.

They can send the ball long into the stands and if that was not enough then Marcus Stoinis was waiting in the dugout. Stoinis has an amazing strike-rate over 150 and average around 43 in the backend of the innings, making him a dangerous customer.

In the 14th over Natarajan, kept both Pant and Hetmyer shackled with five Yorkers in seven balls, including a repeat ball for wide. He missed the aim only twice in the over, a low full toss down the leg side that went for a leg-bye four and a bouncer that was called wide for height. He gave away 10 runs in that over but in the context of the game that only spiked the asking rate of the Capitals.

Natarajan came back in the 18th over, and nailed a series a Yorkers to Stoinis and Axar Patel which they struggled to get off for runs. All they could muster was seven runs and Natrajan dismissed Stoinis off the last ball of that over with a perfectly executed yorker.

Natarajan has been in talks from 2017 when he emerged as a star in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) coming from tennis ball tournaments in his native Salem. A good outing in the TNPL attracted the attention of Muttiah Muralitharan, the Lankan spin legend who is now the Sunrisers bowling coach.

Natarajan was drafted into the SRH squad for IPL 2018 but had to wait till IPL 2020 to make his presence felt. A hard-working ordinary person, Natarajan has remained unfazed by all the fame and attention.

Luxury in life is not for him, and he has simple needs like building a new house, educating and marrying off his sisters. Kudos young man!

Story first published: Wednesday, September 30, 2020, 12:09 [IST]
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