T Natarajan earns maiden call-up to India's T20I squad for Australia tour; Varun Chakravarthy ruled out

The mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy has been ruled out of the upcoming T20I series against Australia. He had earned his maiden call-up on the back of some exceptional performances in the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) while playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). However, he has sustained a shoulder injury now and unfortunately will not travel to Australia.

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) pacer T Natarajan has been named his replacement after a breakthrough IPL season. He played all 16 matches for his franchise this season and picked 16 wickets at an average of 31.5. He has bowled the most number of yorkers, around 65-70, in the IPL 2020 which is 2-3 times more than the second best.

Even in the second qualifier against Delhi Capitals on Sunday, the left-arm pacer delivered for the team bowling yorkers at will and keeping a lid on the run-scoring of the opposition team. “The spinner (Varun Chakravarthy) has been ruled out of the T20I series owing to a shoulder injury. The selectors have named T Natarajan as a replacement,” BCCI‘s statement read.

5 pace bowlers in India’s T20I squad

T Natarajan’s addition to the T20I squad makes him the fifth pacer in the team alongside the likes of Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini and Deepak Chahar. It remains to be seen if Natarajan gets a chance to show case his talent down under. With Hardik Pandya unlikely to bowl, team India might play three pacers in the XI.

Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja and Yuzvendra Chahal will look after the spin department while KL Rahul and Sanju Samson are the two wicket-keepers in the squad. The first T20I of the three-match series will be played on December 4 in Canberra before the action shifts to Sydney for the last two games on December 6 and 8 respectively.

All the players picked in India’s squad will leave for Sydney on November 12 soon after the conclusion of IPL 2020 and will be quarantined for 14 days. At the same time, they will also train at the SCG and then the ODI series will commence on November 27.

Team India T20I squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (vice-captain and wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, T Natarajan