Former Indian skipper Kapil Dev has praised the young cricketer T Natarajan for his fearless attitude which he brings to his game. The left-arm pacer was included in the Indian T20I squad as a replacement for Varun Chakravarty for the Australia series. The selectors included him in the squad on the back of his good performance in the IPL where he picked up 16 wickets. Also, his consistency at nailing accurate yorkers made the way for him as well.

Speaking on Day 2 of the 18th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit to senior journalist Ayaz Menon, Kapil Dev said that Natarajan was his hero of this IPL season and his fearless attitude towards the game impressed him.

Former Indian Skipper Kapil Dev Hails Natarajan

“Natarajan was my hero of the IPL. Young boy was fearless and bowled so many yorkers. The yorker is the best ball, not only today but even in the last 100 years,” Kapil said.

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Natarajan was first noticed by the cricketing world in the Tamil Nadu Premier League. A good performance in the tournament made Kings XI Punjab rope him in IPL 2017 for 3 crores. However, it was not a good season for him and he was released the next year. Sunrisers Hyderabad then roped him in. After waiting in the wings for two years, Natarajan finally made his debut for the side in 2020. He picked 16 wickets to end the season as the team’s second-highest wicket-taker.

Mainly focusing on his death over bowling this season alone Natarajan has bowled 64 yorkers which is the most number of yorkers bowled in the season as he is only first to Jason Holder who had bowled 25 yorkers in the limited matches he has played. In the 16 matches, Natarajan played in this season he has managed to pick up 16 wickets at an average of 31.50. His wickets included names like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Andre Russell and AB De Villiers.

It was a dream come true for him on the day of his first practice session for Team India. He bowled at the likes of Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara in the nets.

Also Read: 5 Unknown Facts About Sunrisers Hyderabad Pacer T Natarajan