T Natarajan is an Indian cricketer who plays for the Hyderabad franchise in the Indian Premier League. T. Natarajan was born on May 27, 1991; as of 2024, he is 33. T. Natarajan is a bowler from Salem and bowls fast seam.
He made his IPL debut in 2017. T. Natarajan has played 48 matches to date in his IPL career and he took 51 wickets, with an average of 30.12, conceding nearly 8.75 runs per over with a best individual figure of 3/10.
In the IPL Auction 2024, the Hyderabad franchise acquired the services of T. Natarajan for Rs 4.00 Cr. In Mar 2024, he played his last IPL match against Kolkata at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, India, and had bowling figures of 32/3.
T Natarajan Biography
| Full name | Thangarasu Natarajan |
| Nick Name | ‘Mustafizur Rahman’ of Tamil Nadu |
| Date of Birth/DOB/ age | Apr 04, 1991 (32 years) |
| Birth Place | Salem, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Zodiac sign/Sun sign | Gemini |
| Profession | Cricketer (Bowler) |
| Country | India |
| Cricket Role | Bowler |
| Father name | Name Not Known (Worked as a Porter at a Railway station) |
| Mother name | Name Not Known (runs a road-side snack stall) |
| Siblings | Brother– 1 Sisters– 3 |
| Marital Status | Unmarried |
| Spouse or Girlfriend | N/A |
| Children | N/A |
| Education Qualification | |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Current Residence | Salem, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Batting Style | Left hand Bat |
| Bowling Style | Left arm Medium |
| Domestic Cricket debut | |
| International Debut | Test– 15 January 2021 against Australia at The Gabba, Brisbane ODI– 2 December 2020 against Australia at Manuka Oval T20– 4 December 2020 against Australia at Manuka Oval |
| Teams | Tamil Nadu, Dindigul Dragons, Punjab Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Lyca Kovai Kings, India, Ba11sy Trichy |
T Natarajan Physical Statistics
| Height | in centimeters- 175 cm in meters- 1.75 m in Feet Inches- 5’ 9” |
| Weight | in Kilograms- 66 kg in Pounds- 146 lbs |
| Body Measurements (approx.) | – Chest: 38 Inches – Waist: 30 Inches – Biceps: 12 Inches |
| Eye Color | Black |
| Hair Color | Black |
T Natarajan Profile
Natarajan’s journey as a cricketer is worth the read. Hailing from Salem, the left-arm quickie learnt his basics playing tennis ball cricket. Yorkers bowled with the tennis ball changed to cutters with the seasoned ball but the impact remained the same on the batsman.
Touted as India’s Mustafizur Rahman, KXIP picked him up 3 crores for IPL 2017 after his sterling performances in the domestic season and in the first season of TNPL as well. He played in 6 games in his debut IPL season and picked up 2 wickets. That was anti-climactic but was a good learning curve for someone so raw.
Natarajan’s early promise was spotted by A Jayaprakash, a division cricketer. Natarajan moved to Chennai and the rest as they say is history. Natarajan missed the 2017-18 season of Ranji season owing to an elbow injury but was still picked up during the 2018 IPL auctions by SRH for 40 lakhs. However, he was benched for the entire season with plenty of experienced campaigners competing for the role.
T Natarajan Career Stats
Bowling
| FORMAT | Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w | 10w |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 1 | 2 | 230 | 119 | 3 | 3/78 | 3/119 | 39.66 | 3.10 | 76.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ODIs | 2 | 2 | 120 | 143 | 3 | 2/70 | 2/70 | 47.66 | 7.15 | 40.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T20Is | 4 | 4 | 96 | 122 | 7 | 3/30 | 3/30 | 17.42 | 7.62 | 13.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FC | 21 | 35 | 3658 | 1849 | 67 | 5/41 | 8/84 | 27.59 | 3.03 | 54.5 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| List A | 25 | 25 | 1155 | 968 | 32 | 4/38 | 4/38 | 30.25 | 5.02 | 36.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| T20s | 82 | 82 | 1758 | 2443 | 88 | 3/4 | 3/4 | 27.76 | 8.33 | 19.9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Batting & Fielding
| FORMAT | Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100s | 50s | 4s | 6s | Ct | St |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1* | – | 9 | 11.11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ODIs | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0* | – | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T20Is | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 | 0 |
| FC | 21 | 23 | 9 | 29 | 12 | 2.07 | 163 | 17.79 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| List A | 25 | 8 | 6 | 15 | 7* | 7.50 | 30 | 50.00 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| T20s | 82 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 3* | 8.00 | 15 | 53.33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 0 |
T Natarajan IPL Auction Price History
Year | Price | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 40.00 Lac | Hyderabad |
| 2019 | 40.00 Lac | Hyderabad |
| 2020 | 40.00 Lac | Hyderabad |
| 2021 | 40.00 Lac | Hyderabad |
| 2022 | 4.00 Cr | Hyderabad |
| 2023 | 4.00 Cr | Hyderabad |
| 2024 | 4.00 Cr | Hyderabad |
T Natarajan’s Social Media Accounts
| Natraj Jayaprakash (@natarajan_jayaprakash) | |
| Natarajan (@Natarajan_91) | |
| Wikipedia | T. Natarajan |
Some Lesser-Known Facts About T Natarajan
- Natarajan’s family isn’t financially well-off. While his father worked as a porter at a railway station, his mother still runs a roadside snack stall. As the eldest of five siblings, including three sisters, Natarajan was always worried about taking care of his family.
- Just like every other child, Natarajan took up tennis-ball cricket as a hobby. However, one day a well-wisher from his village identified his skill as a bowler and asked Natarajan to try his hand at local competitive cricket. Motivated by the words, Natarajan relocated to Chennai and joined a cricket club in the city.
- He first came into the limelight when he represented the team of BSNL in the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association’s fourth-division league. Natarajan then played 1st division cricket for Vijay Cricket Club for almost a year. Later, he moved to Jolly Rovers, a popular club that has fielded big names like Ravichandran Ashwin and Murali Vijay.
- Just after making his Ranji debut in 2015, Natarajan was reported for a suspect action. However, thanks to former Tamil Nadu players, Sunil Subramanian, D. Vasu and M. Venkataramana, for helping him rectify his action, thus allowing him an early comeback.
- Natarajan’s first breakthrough came in 2016 when he represented Dindigul Dragons in the inaugural edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL).
- A sheer case of ‘from rags to riches’, Natarajan entered the ‘Crore Club’ in 2007, when he was signed by the Kings XI Punjab for a whopping sum of INR 3 crore.
- In April 2021, noted Indian industrialist Anand Mahindra gifted the cricketer a Mahindra Thar SUV, and the cricketer sent back his signed Gabba Test jersey as a gesture.
