T Natarajan becomes the first Indian bowler to make debut in three formats on the same tour

T Natarajan, on Friday, January 15, became the first Indian bowler to make his international debut in all three formats on the same tour. The speedster went to Australia as a net bowler, but his fortunes have turned around. To start with, he played the last match in the ODI series at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. Thereafter, he impressed one and all in the three-match T20I series.

He managed to churn out the Yorkers with sheer authority and came into the limelight. The pacer was impressive for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2020 Indian Premier League after which he was drafted into the national squad. Prior to the four-match Test series, India had Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav as their three specialist fast bowlers.

T Natarajan makes his Test debut

But as the series went by, all three were ruled out due to injuries. Bumrah was the latest victim and missed out on the fourth Test at the Gabba. Even before the series started, Ishant Sharma was ruled out as well. Natarajan found his way into the squad after Umesh couldn’t make the cut for the last two Tests. However, it was Navdeep Saini, who got his maiden Test cap at the SCG.

But Bumrah’s injury opened the doors on Natarajan even for the Test series. At the age of 29, he forayed into Test cricket. In his first 12 overs, he showed a great amount of consistency, though he couldn’t pick up a wicket. He bowled a couple of maidens, but was a tad erratic, having bowled four no-balls. But his economy of a tad over two isn’t poor by any stretch of the imagination.

Natarajan has Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur for a company in the fast-bowling department. Earlier, Australia’s David Warner said that he’s ‘not sure’ about how Natarajan would perform in Test cricket. In the IPL, the seamer played under Warner’s leadership.

Before the Brisbane Test, Natarajan had played 20 first-class matches in which he picked up 64 wickets with three five-wicket hauls to show for his efforts. It remains to be seen how he performs going forward in the last and final Test of the series.