Rohit Sharma speaks about the debutants T. Natarajan and Washington Sundar
T Natarajan is enjoying the moment of his life in Australia this year. He came into the squad in this tour as a net bowler but got his chance to make his debut across all formats. Natarajan became the first Indian player to make his debut across all formats in a single tour. He was regarded as a limited-overs specialist by many experts but also got his chance in red-ball cricket. He made his Test debut in Brisbane and ended up with figures of 3 for 78.
After the end of the day’s play, vice-captain Rohit Sharma lauded the left-arm pacer T. Natarajan. Sharma spoke about the discipline that Natarajan maintained during his spell in this tour. He also stressed on his first spell during this Test match, when he was quite accurate.
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“Natarajan is a bright prospect for us, he showed a lot of discipline when he played for India in the white-ball format. He was coming off a good IPL and he carried that confidence into the white-ball series against Australia. Then to have a Test match like that, the first spell he bowled was very accurate, if I have to judge.”
It was a brilliant performance from the Sunrisers Hyderabad star, who has really made a name for himself in such a short time. He has been a late bloomer but has done really well so far and things are looking really good for him. Natarajan is 29 at present and could still have a few years in his career.
Rohit Sharma further stated that the Indian team wants players who can understand their game properly. Natarajan showed that he is exactly capable of that and it did not feel like that he is playing the first Test match of his career.
“Somebody who is playing his first Test, we can really say that he understands his bowling really well. it is something that India wants. Natarajan was trying to do what was expected out of him and I think he looks like a bright prospect for sure.”
Rohit Sharma heaped praise on both the debutants: T. Natarajan and Washington Sundar
Washington Sundar, another youngster from Tamil Nadu, also luckily made his debut in this Test match. He has not played any first-class match since November 2017. However, he got his chance in this Test match in Brisbane, in the absence of Ravichandran Ashwin. Rohit also lauded Sundar for his performance.
“They have played some first-class games coming into this Test. Playing against Australia in Australia was never going to be easy. But they showed a lot of character and they understood what the team expected them to do. We wanted to make sure that once Saini walked off, how we can contain and put pressure on Australian batsmen by not giving them easy runs, run-scoring can be easy here as it is a good pitch. Playing their first match, they showed a lot of character and discipline and yes, the team was expecting them to do something and both Sundar and Natarajan did that really well.”
What next for Rohit Sharma and co. in this final Test match of the series?
The final day of the last Test match will decide the fate of the game and the series. The target for Team India is 328. Whether they are able to achieve it or not, remains to be seen. If they do score the needed runs, it will be a great feat and they will deserve the series win.
The team has been playing with a lot of injury problems. Virat Kohli too had to go back home due to his wife, Anushka Sharma’s pregnancy. Due to this, despite the problems they have played really well.
It will be interesting to see now what happens on the final day of the match. For now, the team will want to focus on playing some good cricket. For all the cricket news, do follow us and stay updated with all the latest happenings. With time, things could really get interesting for Team India if some of these young players really develop into special stars.
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