Ravi Ashwin and India’s fielding coach R Sridhar revealed how Ajinkya Rahane was worried when T Natarajan was facing Mitchell Starc in the Gabba Test.
The Indian skipper was so concerned that he even contemplated declaring the Indian innings. T Natarajan came out to bat as the last man in the first innings of the fourth Test. India were already a bowler short with Navdeep Saini carrying a niggle.
Ravi Ashwin: Captain Ajinkya Rahane Wanted To Declare As He Was Afraid Of Another Injury
As a result, Ajinkya Rahane was concerned given Indian bowlers’ injury record on the tour. Navdeep Saini got injured on Day 1 of the Brisbane 4th Test. The fast bowler bowled just 7.5 overs in the 1st innings and was wicketless before hobbling off the field.
Chatting with R Sridhar on his Youtube channel, Ravi Ashwin revealed: “That over when he faced Mitchell Starc. The nervous moments you guys went through(team management) while he was at the crease. In fact, our captain wanted to declare being afraid of another injury.”
R Sridhar: “Captain came charging to the coaches room. ‘Shall we declare? If he gets injured, we will be left with only three bowlers in the second innings.’”
Ravi Ashwin: “That was the problem. Rahane must have been worried if he or Rohit Sharma might have had to bowl.”
R Sridhar: “He was really worried if he would only have three bowlers if Starc injured Natarajan. Nattu told you he didn’t see the ball.”
Ravi Ashwin: “He did. But truth be told he played straight forward defense and the ball stopped right next to him. I praised him for his soft hands. He corrected me, ‘No, bro. The ball got jammed between my bat and the pitch. That’s the reason.’”
T Natarajan recorded the second-best figures by an Indian left-arm seamer on debut as he finished with 3 for 78 against Australia in the series decider at Brisbane.
BCCI had initially named him as a net bowler for the Australian tour. However, because of multiple injuries in the Indian camp, T Natarajan made his debut in all formats Down Under.
T Natarajan was named in T20I squad after spinner Varun Chakravarthy’s injury and was added as a backup pacer in ODIs after Navdeep Saini complained of back spasms. After injuries to Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, he debuted in 4th Test.
Ravi Ashwin: T Natarajan Came As Net Bowler And Transformed Himself
T Natarajan survived Mitchell Starc’s probing over and remained unbeaten on one as Mohammed Siraj was cleaned up at the other end by Josh Hazlewood. India went on to secure a historic victory later as they chased down 328 in the fourth innings of the Test match.
T Natarajan, initially part of the squad as a net bowler, went on to make his debut in all formats for India on the Australia tour. Ravichandran Ashwin talked about how confident they were given the circumstances that T Natarajan would make his Test debut even though he stayed back as a net bowler after the limited-overs series ended.
“Nattu will get his debut cap at Gabba. He won’t leave Australia before making his Test debut – that was the talk among us right from the start. He came as a Netarajan(net bowler) and transformed into Natarajan,” said Ashwin.
The left-arm seamer claimed three wickets in his debut Test and kept things tight in both the innings of the Gabba Test. T Natarajan was at his best in the three-T20I series against Australia. He took six wickets and bowled with an economy rate of 6.92 as India secured a 2-1 series win in the shortest format.
This article is auto-generated by Algorithm Source: sportzwiki.com
