T Natarajan's performance against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) has made former India head coach Ravi Shastri happy, and he believes India missed him in the T20 World Cup.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) lost to the Super Giants yesterday (4 April) in the IPL 2022, but Thangarasu Natarajan's bowling impressed everyone. Natarajan, who has returned to competitive cricket after a long break following a knee injury and surgery, took 2 wickets for 26 against LSG after picking up a couple in the first match against Rajasthan Royals.
The Tamil Nadu pacer, who had almost sealed his place in the T20I squad after the 2020-21 series against Australia, remained out of action for nearly a year due to injury concerns. However, he seems to be back on track and Shastri is excited to see the 31-year-old back in action.
Speaking on ESPNCricinfo, the former India head coach opined, "Very happy for him. We missed him in the World Cup. He would've been a certainty had he been fit. He got injured against England when we were playing the ODI series, and we really missed him (in the World Cup)."
Shastri explained, "He's that specialist death bowler, bowls those yorkers very skilfully. He's got great control. He is skiddy. A bit quicker than you think and hits the bat."
IPL 2020 saw Natarajan emerging as the match-winning bowler and he claimed 16 wickets in 16 games. This earned him a call for T20I and One Day Internationals in Australia that soon followed a Test call-up.
While recalling the tour, Shastri called the India pacer the lucky charm for the national side as they won all the games he featured in.
"Every game I've picked him, we won. In his debut in T20, India won. In his debut in Test cricket, India won. From a net bowler, he played those other two formats," he added.
Despite the loss, Hyderabad will be happy with the performance produced by its seamer and count on him as they face the Chennai Super Kings, with both sides still searching for their first win of the season.