Thangarasu Natarajan

Thangarasu Natarajan, commonly known as T Natarajan, is an Indian cricketer who plays as a left-arm fast bowler. He was born on May 27, 1991, in Salem, Tamil Nadu, India.

Natarajan made his debut for the Tamil Nadu cricket team in 2014 and has since played in various domestic competitions, including the Indian Premier League (IPL). He gained widespread attention during the 2020 IPL, where he was a part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team and impressed with his bowling performances.

In December 2020, Natarajan made his debut for the Indian cricket team in the T20I series against Australia, where he also became the first Indian player to make his international debut across all three formats of the game during the same tour. He has since been a regular member of the Indian team in the limited-overs formats.

Thangarasu Natarajan has played for the Dindigul Dragons franchise in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), which is a domestic T20 cricket league in India. He made his TNPL debut in the 2016 season and played for the Dragons in both the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

In the 2016 season, Natarajan played six matches and picked up six wickets at an average of 23.66 and an economy rate of 7.50. He had a best bowling performance of 3/18. The following year, in the 2017 season, he played seven matches and picked up eight wickets at an average of 25.87 and an economy rate of 8.09. He had a best bowling performance of 3/34.

Natarajan's performances in the TNPL helped him earn a place in the Tamil Nadu Ranji Trophy team and subsequently the Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL team.

Thangarasu Natarajan made his One Day International (ODI) debut for the Indian cricket team against Australia on December 2, 2020, in Sydney. He picked up two wickets in the match, including the wicket of Marnus Labuschagne, and finished with figures of 2/70 in his 10 overs.

Since then, Natarajan has played a total of 7 ODIs for India and has picked up 9 wickets at an average of 40.66 and an economy rate of 6.52. His best performance in ODIs came against England in March 2021, where he picked up 3 wickets for 73 runs in his 10 overs.

Natarajan has been a regular member of the Indian limited-overs squad since his debut and is known for his ability to bowl yorkers and slower deliveries at the death, making him a valuable asset for the Indian team.

Thangarasu Natarajan made his debut in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2017, when he was signed up by the Kings XI Punjab franchise. However, he did not get to play a match in that season. In the following year, he was signed up by the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) team, but he played only one match in the entire season.

Natarajan's breakthrough season in the IPL came in 2020, when he was again a part of the SRH team. He played in all 16 matches for SRH in the season and picked up 16 wickets at an average of 31.50 and an economy rate of 8.02. His ability to bowl yorkers and slower balls at the death made him a key member of the SRH bowling attack.

Natarajan's performances in the IPL earned him a call-up to the Indian cricket team and he made his debut for India later in 2020. He was retained by SRH for the 2021 IPL season but could only play in a few matches before being ruled out due to injury. Overall, he has played in 22 IPL matches and has picked up 24 wickets at an average of 32.54 and an economy rate of 8.34.