India's left-arm pacer T Natarajan who made his Test debut at the Gabba, Brisbane in 2021 has opened up on his absence from red-ball cricket. Natarajan who has been facing issues with his knee wants to focus on white-ball cricket to prolong his career.
Last year, Natarajan wanted to make his red-ball comeback in Ranji Trophy 2023-24 season but pulled out due to injury.
"It has been almost four years since I played red-ball cricket. It is not that I do not want to play red-ball cricket, but I feel that it makes my workload heavier. Right now, I am avoiding red-ball cricket. When the workload is heavy, I am having issues on my knee. So, I have stopped playing," Natarajan told TOI.
Natarajan who was travelled with the team as a net bowler in Australia made his debut at the Gabba. He bagged three wickets for 78 runs in the first innings including Marnus Labuschagne and Matthew Wade.
Natarajan has not played red-ball cricket since. For Tamil Nadu, he has bagged 67 wickets from 21 games including three fifers. While his focus is on white-ball cricket, the 33-year-old still hopes of playing red-ball cricket after a gap of couple of years.
"I love red-ball cricket more than white-ball cricket. Whenever I played red-ball cricket, I enjoyed it a lot. If things go to plan, I will play after a few years. If I train well for the next two years, there are chances for me to return. But right now, I am only looking at white-ball cricket," Natarajan added.
Natarjan’s recent T20 performances
Natarajan played 14 games for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 bagging 19 wickets including a four-fer. His most recent appearance was form IDream Tiruppur Tamizhans in Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) where he was the fourth-highest wicket-taker with 12 wickets from eight games.
Natarajan’s absence from white-ball team
Natarajan has not played T20Is and ODIs since 2021. He has played two ODIs and bagged three wickets. In T20Is, he has seven wickets from four games.
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