'Looking forward for more challenges', says Natarajan after a memorable India debut

T Natarajan finally got a chance to don the Indian jersey during the third and final ODI against Australia at the Manuka Oval, Canberra on Wednesday. He was pretty impressive on debut as he bagged a couple of scalps. Natarajan was shattered the dangerous opener Marnus Labuschagne's stumps and then accounted for a well-set Ashton Agar who had done some damage in the middle overs with a run-a-ball 28. The yorker specialist finished his spell with figures of 2/70 from his 10 overs. 

'Surreal experience': T Natarajan

Taking to the micro-blogging site, the Tamil Nadu cricketer wrote that it was a 'Surreal experience' to represent the country and then went on to thank everyone for their wishes. The 29-year-old concluded by saying that he is looking forward to more challenges. 

Natarajan's journey from IPL to international cricket

Natarajan had an outstanding run in the Dream11 IPL 2020 where he registered 16 wickets from the same number of matches that he had got to feature in for Sunrisers Hyderabad. What really stood out was his ability to execute express fast yorkers that completely left the batsmen clueless and one of them happened to be one of world cricket's greatest power-hitters Abraham Benjamin de Villiers. A well-set ABD, who had scored a half-century had his furniture disturbed during the Eliminator by a picture-perfect yorker. His wicket proved to be the turning point in that contest as the 'Orange Army' won the match and advanced to the second Qualifier. 

Even though the former champions could not win the tournament, but Natarajan was rewarded for his hard work as he was selected in India's limited-overs squad for the ongoing Australia series. It remains to be seen whether he will be given a game in the upcoming three-match T20I series- the first of which will be played at the Manuka Oval on Friday. 

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The T20I series

With the first leg of this tour done & dusted, the focus now shifts towards the three-match T20I series. The first match will be contested at the Manuka Oval on Friday. Kohli & Co. would be hoping to overcome their ODI series defeat and start afresh in the shortest format of the game while the hosts will be looking to continue their dominance in the white-ball leg of this grueling tour. 

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