Big news came in for the Tamil Nadu Cricket Team and In on Wednesday when the state’s cricket board announced that the sensational pace bowler, T Natarajan, who represents the state at the domestic level and has made a place in Team India will be relieved off his state duties, after a request from the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the country’s apex cricket body.
T Natarajan, after his successful exploits at the lower levels of the game of cricket, got his national call up during India’s tour of Australia 2020-21. He performed well the ball in hand and his exploits helped the team do well as a unit ‘down under’. He isn’t a part of India’s Test team as of now, which is playing against a visiting England Cricket Team but is very likely to be included in the white ball team, for the T20 Internationals and the One Day Internationals, which will follow this series.
“It is in the national interest and so we are ready to oblige.” – TNCA Secretary
Keeping in mind, his utility for the Indian team in the shorter format games against England, the BCCI had wanted the player to be fresh for the national duty and not play in the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy. At the start, as reported by Cricbuzz, there had been no concrete, written request from the BCCI and Kasi Viswanathan of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association had been quoted saying, “That is what we have heard. We have not got a request in writing but we understand that the team management wants him to get ready by practising at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore. The secretary is looking into it. The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) will take the right decision.”
But, it was not long before Natarajan’s status with the Tamil Nadu Domestic Team was confirmed, as the TNCA secretary, S Ramaswamy told that BCCI and the Indian Team’s management want Natarajan fresh and ready to play, practising at the National Cricket Academy. He said, “The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the team management want him fresh. It is in the national interest and so we are ready to oblige.”
The Indian Cricket Team, hosting the England Cricket Team is playing a 4 match Test series, after which they will be moving on to play a massive 5 match T20 International series, which will be followed by a 3 match One Day International series. It is during the white-ball series, that Natarajan is expected to play and hence has been asked to be relieved off his state team’s duties.
