T Natarajan Life Story: The story of left-arm fast bowler T Natarajan, known as Virat Kohli’s ‘lucky mascot’, is like a film script, but the fate of his career has also been filmy.
Tennis ball reached IPL from cricket
T. Natarajan was introduced to cricket through tennis ball matches in a small village in Tamil Nadu. His father worked as a laborer and his mother sold fish on the roadside, which meant it was difficult to get even two meals a day at home. Natarajan’s specialty is that he can bowl accurate yorkers in all 6 balls of the over. Everyone who has seen Wasim Akram’s bowling knows how dangerous a good fast bowler is with a yorker. This is the reason why Natarajan soon became famous. Someone recognized Natarajan’s talent in tennis ball cricket and he reached the IPL. First he showed his talent for Kings XI Punjab and then for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Team India became standby due to Covid
Left-handed Natarajan bowled strongly in IPL 2020, due to which he got the place of standby bowler in Team India that went to Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy under the captaincy of Virat Kohli in the year 2020-21. It was here that his luck changed and he got a chance to debut for Team India in T20I, ODI and Test on this tour. Team India won his debut matches in all three formats and he became the lucky mascot.
In ODI, Natarajan got a place as cover for Navdeep Saini and was fielded in the third and last ODI match. In this, Natarajan saved the team from a clean sweep by taking 2 wickets. After this, the injury suffered by Varun Chakraborty in T20 also proved lucky for Natarajan. In the first match, he took 3 wickets for 30 runs in 4 overs and the team won by 11 runs. In the second match also, he took 2 wickets for 20 runs and the team won the series.
Test played and India got a historic victory
He got a place in the Test due to injury to Umesh Yadav. Sitting on the bench in the Sydney Test, but due to injury to Jasprit Bumrah in this Test match, Natarajan was given a chance to debut in the fourth Test match played at Gabba. He took 3 wickets including Marnus Labuschagne who scored 108 runs. In this test match also, Team India achieved a historic victory and created history by winning 2-1 in the series. Natarajan has played a total of 1 Test (3 wickets), 2 ODI (3 wickets) and 4 T20 (7 wickets) matches for Team India. He became a victim of frequent injuries, due to which he did not retain his place in Team India.
Got Rs 10.75 crore in IPL 2024 but could not play the match
Natarajan was surprised by Delhi Capitals by buying him for a huge amount of Rs 10.75 crore in the mini auction of IPL 2024, but he was given a chance to bowl only 7 balls in the entire season. Since then, Natarajan has been a victim of constant oblivion. However, 34-year-old Natarajan, who took 18 wickets in IPL 2022 and 10 wickets in 2023, is still waiting for another opportunity.
About the authorKuldeep PanwarI am Kuldeep Panwar – a national level player turned reporter. For more than two decades, I have been taking the stories of all sports and players from the field to the newsroom, from cricket, football, hockey, badminton, wrestling. I have been a player myself, so I understand every pulse of the field. Sports for me is not news or any beat, it is life and passion. In this journey, I have had the experience of working in many big institutions. Have studied social work. Apart from sports, he also has equal influence on local, political, agriculture, education, youth and development issues.… read more
