T Natarajan’s Slow Balls And Yorkers May Not Be Effective In Test: Diwakar Vasu

Jan 2, 2021 at 4:55 PM

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T Natarajan’s Slow Balls And Yorkers May Not Be Effective In Test: Diwakar Vasu

T Natarajan’s slower balls and yorkers will not be too effective in Test match cricket as felt by Tamil Nadu’s head coach Diwakar Vasu, who has been working with T Natarajan for over a year.

Notably, the left-arm seamer has been included in the Indian Test team after seamer Umesh Yadav picked up an injury during the second Test and was subsequently ruled out of the series. Net practice bowlers who played the preceding limited-overs series- Shardul Thakur and T Natarajan have been included.

Umesh Yadav
Umesh Yadav. BCCI

T Natarajan Has To Learn To Swing And Bowl Consistently: Diwakar Vasu

The 29-year-old has witnessed a meteoric rise in the last few months, and he is even in line to make his debut in the Sydney Test against Australia. However, Diwakar Vasu feels that T Natarajan’s T20 skills, where he impressed everyone by bowling yorkers and slow balls in IPL and T20Is against Australia, will not be too useful in Test cricket. Vasu has suggested him to bowl up and get the ball to swing if selected in Test XI.

“See, I am very happy for him and want him to play Tests and wishing him success. But I am not saying he is going to be immediately successful. He has to learn, and I am sure he is a quick learner. We have to see if he is ready for Test cricket. It will depend on how he grabs the opportunity (if it comes),” said Vasu while speaking with Indian Express.

T Natarajan
T Natarajan. Image Credit: BCCI.

” He needs to swing the ball. He needs to bowl a more consistent line. He also needs to cut the ball (off the seam). Test cricket is not easy. Not many of these slower balls and yorkers are going to be effective as far as Test cricket is concerned. And I don’t think that at his pace (around 130kph), bouncers could be a (wicket-taking) option. I think (if he plays), he needs to bowl up, work on his swing, work on his angles. That would be a better option for him,” Vasu added.

The left-arm seamer is competing with Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini for a spot in the XI for the upcoming Test match against Australia.

T Natarajan Was Leading Wicket Taker In T20I Series But Shardul Thakur Is Frontrunner For Having More Experience In First Class Cricket

T Natarajan was only in the squad as a net bowler for the Test series after he impressed in the three-match T20I series which India won by 2-1. In three T20s, he picked six wickets and finished with an economy rate of 6.92.

Shardul Thakur
Shardul Thakur. Image Credit: Getty Images.

T Natarajan was initially handed his ODI debut earlier as he played the last game- the 3rd match of the series against the hosts Australia which India won. The seamer conceded 70 runs in his 10 overs and picked up two wickets.

According to a BCCI source, Shardul Thakur is the frontrunner to replace Umesh Yadav for the upcoming Sydney Test as he is a seasoned bowler with the red-ball.

On the other hand, T Natarajan has only played 20 first-class games for Tamil Nadu, which might go against him being picked for 3rd Test. So chances are that the left-arm seamer might not get picked for the third Test starting January 7. India may include Kuldeep Yadav in XI too if they want to go with 3 spinners in spin-friendly Sydney.

T Natarajan wasn’t even in T20I squad but went as a net bowler to Australia. He was included in T20I squad after spinner Varun Chakravarthy’s injury. After Navdeep Saini complained of back spasms, he was inducted in ODI squad.

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