T Natarajan ruled out of IPL 2021

Sunrisers Hyderabad face a major blow as their specialist pacer T Natarajan is ruled out of IPL 2021 due to a knee injury. It is told that the left arm pacer’s knee injury aggravated and National Cricket Academy (NCA) has asked him to report back to begin the rehab process.

Natarajan featured in just 2 matches for SRH in IPL 2021 picking just 2 wickets at an economy of 8.62. He was quite influential in Sunrisers journey last season as he bowled the most yorkers by any bowler in the 2020 edition. He picked 16 wickets in 16 matches last season.

Sunrisers captain David Warner also seemed clueless about the return of the left arm pacer during their match against Punjab Kings.

“He has obviously got a sore knee. Given the circumstance in these bubbles, if he goes and gets a scan, he obviously has to sit out for seven days. He has to get back in quarantine. We are just monitoring him at the moment. The physios are doing their best to analyze from a face point of view but he obviously has to go out and get a scan at some point,” Warner said on Wednesday after the game against Punjab Kings.

Ever since IPL 2020, Natarajan was selected for Australian tour as net bowler but ended up becoming the first Indian bowler to play in all 3 formats of a overseas tour on debut. The left arm pacer represented India in 1 Test, 2 ODIs and 4 T20Is ever since and was greeted to a hero’s welcome back home.

T Natarajan’s back ups:

Sunrisers will miss the services of Natarajan especially in death overs where he choked the batsmen repeatedly. The last match Sunrisers played featured Indian pace trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed and Siddharth Kaul.

They also have pace options in the form of Basil Thampi and Jason Holder.

It is understood that NCA physios have been monitoring Natarajan’s fitness and have reported to the BCCI about the aggravation. It is now expected that the BCCI will ask the franchise to release the pacer, who is still understood to be with SRH in Chennai. “We have not got the full report but we have been told that he has developed a strain in the knee. He will have to undergo rehab in the NCA,” said the source.