"Didn’t see the first ball from Mitchell Starc" - T Natarajan

Facing Mitchell Starc for his first ball in Test cricket on day three of the Brisbane Test, Indian bowler T Natarajan admitted to Tamil Nadu teammate Ravichandran Ashwin that he couldn’t see the delivery from the Australian pacer.

Natarajan walked in to bat after Washington Sundar’s departure and was expected to hang around for a while. The 123-run stand for the seventh wicket between Sundar and Shardul Thakur had brought India back into the Test match.

Mitchell Starc angled the ball towards Natarajan’s body. He tried to back away as the ball thud into his glove and dropped down. Recalling the delivery from his left-arm counterpart, Natarajan laughed out:

“I couldn’t see the first ball from Mitchell Starc.”

Natarajan averaged two in First-Class cricket before he walked out to bat. He had five ducks and five zero not-outs in his last ten First-Class innings.

He would eventually open his account in Test cricket off Josh Hazlewood before facing a complete over from Mitchell Starc. Natarajan finished his debut innings with an unbeaten one from nine balls.

Didn’t try anything extra with the ball: T Natarajan

A series of injuries to India's frontline bowlers led to T Natarajan's Test debut in the fourth Test of the 2020/21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Gabba.

On the first day of the Test, T Natarajan would break the flourishing 113-run fourth-wicket partnership between Matthew Wade and centurion Marnus Labuschagne.

Replying to Ravichandran Ashwin's query about his first two wickets (Wade and Labuschagne) in Test cricket, Natarajan said that he stuck to his strengths and bowled to a plan. He answered in Tamil:

“I’ve played a lot of red-ball cricket for Tamil Nadu. Based on my strengths, I bowled around the wicket. My coaches have told me that batsmen struggle when I bowl around the wicket. So I just bowled according to that plan and didn’t try anything extra."

T Natarajan's story is an incredible one. It was not until he was 19 that he picked up a cricket ball. He wouldn’t have even made it to the Sunrisers Hyderabad lineup in IPL 2020 had it not been for a couple of injuries.

Picked as a net bowler for the Australian tour, the 29-year-old ended up being the first Indian cricketer to debut in all formats on a single tour.

Natarajan was particularly impressive in the T20I series that India won 2-1, scalping six wickets.

How good was T. Natarajan on his debut? Nattu broke the 113-run partnership by taking the crucial wickets of Marnus Labuschagne & Matthew Wade ☝️We love you #Nattu நம்ம ஊரு நடராஜன் @Natarajan_91 pic.twitter.com/UZPSnANsnf

— Darwin Nesakumar (@darwinnesakumar) January 15, 2021