"It Looked Like Indian Cricket Had Lost Him": Sunil Gavaskar Heaps Praise On SRH Pacer

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar was all praise for T Natarajan, saying that the SunRisers Hyderabad pacer has regained confidence in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 after overcoming injury setbacks. Natarajan, who was bought back by SRH for INR 4 crore during the IPL auction, is currently the second-highest wicket-taker of the season with 15 wickets from seven matches. Gavaskar was extremely impressed by the left-arm pacer for putting in the hard yards, adding that Natarajan is definitely up for a comeback to the Indian cricket team.

His comments came after Natarajan starred for SRH during their win over Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday. Natarajan returned with impressive figures of 3/10 in four overs as SRH skittled out RCB for just 68 - the sixth lowest score in IPL ever.

"We all know that yorkers are his specialty but he held the ball back well. It's good to see him back because for some time it looked like Indian cricket had lost him. It's good to have him back in contention. I am pretty sure, with the way he bowls between the 16th and the 20th over, he will be very much in contention," Gavaskar said during the mid-innings show on official broadcasters Star Sports.

The legendary batter added that Natarajan is setting his sights on the T20 World Cup, which will be played in Australia later this year.

"Last year, perhaps, he wasn't on top of his game. Right now, he is full of confidence. He has had his share of injuries but he is fresh and raring to go. He recognises that there is a World Cup coming up, he wants to be on that flight to Australia," he said during the post-match show.

After Natarajan's exploits, SRH chased down the 69-run target with nine wickets and 12 overs to spare. SRH have so far won five of their seven games to be among the top-four in the points table.

Topics mentioned in this article

T Natarajan Sunil Gavaskar Sunrisers Hyderabad India Cricket Team IPL 2022 Cricket