Hardik Pandya dedicates his Man of the Series award to Natarajan, pens down heartfelt note

Even as Team India's star all-rounder Hardik Pandya hogged the limelight for his consistent performances against Australia in the white-ball series, the explosive batsman wasn't shy of sharing the credit with newcomer T Natarajan as he lauded the speedster for India's new-found yorker maestro. Pandya penned down a heartfelt note for Natarajan, who went from being a net bowler to making his T20 and ODI debut, in the tour of Australia. While Pandya dedicated his Man of the Match award in the second T20 outing to Natarajan, he now stated that the left-arm pacer deserves the Man of the Series award - which was awarded to Pandya.

Natarajan's heroic tale

Natarajan's journey to the Team India squad is nothing short of a heroic tale. Despite making his first-class debut in 2015 for Tamil Nadu, the left-arm pacer was unknown until he put on a display of his yorker skills in the IPL 2020 for Hyderabad, which earned him an instant comparison with Jasprit Bumrah. He was first bought by the Punjab franchise in 2017 IPL but failed to get into the playing XI. However, in 2018 Hyderabad roped him and eventually, he played his first IPL match in 2020. 

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Courtesy of his spot-on yorkers and run-stopping abilities at the death, Natarajan was picked in India's touring squad of Australia as a net bowler. However, destiny had other plans for him as spinner Varun Chakravarthy sustained an injury in the IPL itself and the speedster was brought into the squad as a replacement. He made his ODI debut on December 2 against Australia and his T20 debut two days later. In the 3-match T20 series, Natarajan has managed to bag 6 wickets at an average of 13.83. 

'Stood up & really delivered'

Indian skipper Virat Kohli feels that yorker specialist T Natarajan can be a great asset to Team India in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 if he keeps on performing consistently. "Natarajan special mention for him as in absence of Bumrah and Shami. He is been the guy who has stood up and really delivered under pressure. And it's an outstanding fact that he playing his first game at the international level," Kohli said during a virtual press conference.

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"He looks very composed and is a very hard-working guy and very humble too. I wish him all the best and a left-arm bowler is always an asset on the field and if he can be consistent it will be a great thing for us heading into the World Cup next year," he added.

Australia manage a consolation win

Chasing a challenging target of 187, India had lost the big wicket of KL Rahul without troubling the scorers after which Virat and Shikhar Dhawan carried out the rescue act with a 74-run second-wicket stand before the latter was dismissed for a quickfire 28. The Indian captain played a few delightful strokes by hitting the Australian bowlers to all parts of the ground. When the visitors had lost their top-order with just 100 runs on the board, it was the captain who led the team from the front and kept them in the hunt in this challenging run chase. Kohli's wicket proved to be the turning point as the lower order could not offer much resistance and the visitors were restricted to 174/7 in their 20 overs. The Aussies managed to salvage pride by as they won the dead-rubber contest by 12 runs.

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