Cricket / T Natarajan building stadium named after him in his village a year after India debut

Salem: Left-arm pacer Thangarasu Natarajan, who made his India debut across all formats in the tour of Australia last year, has announced the setting up of a new cricket ground in his village with all facilities. He also revealed the name of the ground, which will be the ‘Natarajan Cricket Ground’.

“Happy to Announce that am setting up a new cricket ground with all the facilities in my village, Will be named as NATARAJAN CRICKET GROUND (NCG) #DreamsDoComeTrue Last year December I Made my debut for India, This year (December) am setting up a cricket ground #ThankGod,” wrote Natarajan on his Twitter account on Wednesday.

Hailing from Chinnappampatti, a village near Salem in Tamil Nadu, Natarajan’s rise to cricketing fame from a very humble background was one of the heartwarming cricketing stories of 2020. Last year, Natarajan made his ODI debut followed by first T20I and capped it off with a Test debut at the Gabba. Natarajan was initially selected as a net bowler for the Australia tour after impressing with his ability to bowl yorkers in IPL 2020 in the UAE, picking 16 wickets in 16 matches at an economy rate of 8.02.

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After that, Natarajan played the fifth T20I against England in Ahmedabad before playing two matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2021. But after that, Natarajan underwent a knee surgery, which kept him out of action for long. He tried to make a comeback in the second phase of IPL 2021 but a COVID-19 positive report meant he couldn’t participate in any match. Overall, the 30-year-old has played for India in a Test, two ODIs and four T20Is, with 13 wickets across all formats.

Natarajan played in a handful of matches for Tamil Nadu’s victorious campaign in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, picking six wickets in five matches, including the final against Karnataka. But knee troubles meant that Natarajan didn’t feature in the quarter-final as well as the semi-final of the tournament. The trouble in the knee forced him to miss the recent group stage of Vijay Hazare Trophy.