Why does T Natarajan have JP Nattu written on his SRH jersey?
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) pacer Thangarasu Natarajan has kept the cricket fraternity hooked to their television screens with his pin-point yorkers and tight bowling in the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2020). The journey of Natarajan from playing with the tennis ball in a small village named Chinnappampatti in Salem district to taking the wicket of Virat Kohli in his first match of IPL 2020 is nothing less than inspiring.
Natarajan has been a regular feature of SRH’s playing XI in the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League. Apart from the spectacular performance with the ball, one specific thing about Natarajan that garnered media attention is his jersey name. During the matches, Natarajan can be seen donning the jersey with the name JP Nattu. There is a heart touching story behind “JP Nattu”. JP indicates the name of Natarajan’s mentor, Jayaprakash who saw him playing with the tennis ball and helped him in reaching where he is today. By including JP in his jersey name, Natarajan has paid homage to his mentor.
Natarajan’s journey
T Natarajan began his journey in cricket, playing with the tennis ball in the streets of Tamil Nadu. He is a left-arm pacer and from his very childhood mastered the art of bowling inch-perfect Yorker, a delivery that even the greatest of bowlers in international cricket find hard to deliver on a consistent basis. The seamer made his first-class debut in 2015 and since then has 64 scalps to his name in the 20 First-class matches followed by 16 and 24 wickets in List A and T20 cricket respectively.
The story of T. Natarajan ?
Hear all about the pacer’s journey from the man himself ?#OrangeArmy #KeepRising #Dream11IPL @Natarajan_91 pic.twitter.com/KIsPaHJ6aB
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) October 4, 2020
The young lad shot to fame in 2016 during the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) when he bowled back-to-back toe crushing yorkers to some good batsmen like Abhinav Mukund and Washington Sundar. Natarajan was hailed as the Mustafizur Rahman of India for his ability of bowling in death overs.
Good records in the domestic circuit earned Natarajan a contract in the Indian Premier League. He was picked by Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) for a staggering amount of INR 3 crores in 2017 IPL auctions. However, the cricketer had a below-average season as in 6 matches played, he could take only 2 wickets.
The Salem-born didn’t feature in the 2017-18 Ranji session owing to an elbow injury. However, the IPL franchise showed interest in the promising pacer and shelled out INR 40 lakhs to take him in their squad. The franchise did not give him a place in the first XI for his first two seasons and Natarajan warmed the bench in IPL 2018 and IPL 2019. But Natarajan got a chance to share the dressing room with the greats of the game like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, David Warner, Kane Williamson and Jonny Bairstow.
T Natarajan didn’t feel disheartened by sitting on the bench for two consecutive editions, instead, he worked hard and improved his game. The fast bowler kept performing in the domestic circuit and helped Tamil Nadu reach the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament in 2019-20. The stellar performance in the domestic session earned Natarajan a place in the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad for IPL 2020. The youngster didn’t disappoint and in his first game picked up the wicket of RCB skipper, Virat Kohli, a wicket that is a dream wicket for a lot of bowlers in world cricket.
