Revealed: Why T Natarajan is not playing today’s match vs Mumbai Indians and who has replaced him?

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have suffered a big blow for their game against Mumbai Indians in the ongoing Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL). Their star pacer T Natarajan is not available for the eighth game of IPL 2024, taking place at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

Last week, the left-arm pacer starred with the ball in the game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). On a pitch where batsmen were hitting sixes for fun and more than 400 runs were scored, T Natarajan showed his class by coming up with a brilliant display.

He conceded 32 runs in his four overs and picked up three crucial wickets. In the fourth over of the innings, he dismissed Venkatesh Iyer and Shreyas Iyer cheaply to reduce KKR to 32 for 3 and put SRH on top. Later, he dismissed Rinku Singh as well.

T Natarajan not available for the SRH vs MI clash:

While SRH would have hoped for a similar performance from T Natarajan against MI as they eye their first win of the season, they will have to play the game without the pacer. SRH captain Pat Cummins announced the news at the toss and also revealed that T Natarajan was not playing due to a niggle. The Tamil Nadu star has been replaced by another left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat.

“Looks like a good wicket. Not too upset. It’s a tough tournament, the crowd and conditions will help. A couple of changes. Head comes in for Jansen. Natarajan has a niggle, Unadkat comes in. We got a great squad, the 11 or 12 players playing tonight got to give their everything,” said Pat Cummins.

Meanwhile, MI have won the toss and opted to bowl first. Both teams are eyeing their first win of the tournament after losing their respective first games. While SRH lost against KKR, MI suffered a loss against Gujarat Titans.

SRH Playing XI:

Travis Head, Mayank Agarwal, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Jaydev Unadkat

MI Playing XI:

Ishan Kishan(w), Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Tim David, Gerald Coetzee, Shams Mulani, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Kwena Maphaka