IPL 2018: Confident Natarajan Looking Forward to Playing in IPL

T Natarajan grabbed headlines in TNPL 2016 and earned the name of India’s Mustafizur Rahman.

With his toe-crushing yorkers, he became a hot property in IPL auction in 2017. Many of the franchises tried to purchase him and in the end, Kings XI Punjab bagged the player for Rs 3 Crore. The left-arm pacer though disappointed.

In six games he played, Natarajan leaked 115 runs off 75 balls at an economy rate of 9.07 for just two wickets.

The perils of purchasing a player on the basis of form in state T20 leagues was seen, and the stocks of Natarajan fell down. He was sold for Rs 40 Lakh to Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL auction 2018.

It also came as a big surprise, as Natarajan missed the domestic season due to an elbow injury. He wasn’t part of Tamil Nadu in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as well.

A fit-again Natarajan is all set to make a comeback to IPL next month after sitting out for seven months,

“It felt great to bowl again after a long time. I didn’t want to rush my return and aggravate the injury. I’m mentally relaxed now that I have comeback fully fit. I thank TNCA and Chemplast for supporting me during those tough times. I’m confident now and looking forward to the IPL,” he told TOI.

Natarajan will join a young pace attack which includes likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddharth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Chris Jordan and Basil Thampi.

Looking at the inexperience of the bowling attack, Natarajan is expected to play a major part in the tournament – depending on his form. Sunrisers Hyderabad spent big bucks to purchase the pacers present on the side.

Bhuvneshwar was retained by the franchise for an amount of Rs 8.50 Crore. Kaul was purchased for an amount of Rs 3.80 Crore while Khaleel Ahmed also went for a huge amount of Rs 3 Crore.

Sandeep Sharma too bagged a contract worth Rs 3 Crore while Thampi went for Rs 95 Lakh. The franchise snared Jordan at his base price of Rs 1 Crore.

Since the franchise has spent big bucks on the pacers, it would be hoping to reap benefit from them.

Sunrisers Hyderabad faces Kings XI Punjab in their opening game of the season on April 9.

Sunrisers Hyderabad squad: David Warner (Captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Rashid Khan Arman, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, Siddarth Kaul, Deepak Hooda, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Kane Williamson, Carlos Brathwaite, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Shreevats Goswami, Mohammad Nabi, Chris Jordan, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan, Sachin Baby, Bipul Sharma, Syed Mehdi Hasan, Ricky Bhui, Tanmay Agarwal.

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