Umesh and Shami will face reconstruction at the NCA to try and be healthy for the England series in February-March
From becoming a net bowler in the original tour party, T Natarajan could return home an international in all three formats, after being appointed in India’s squad for the remains of the Test series in Australia.
Natarajan, 30 years, replacing Umesh Yadav, who returned to India after keeping a strain in his right-hand muscle during the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Now India officially has only one net bowler left, rookie Kartik Tyagi after Shardul Thakur was added to the team as Mohammed Shami’s replaced last week.
Kamlesh Nagarkoti, the other named as a net bowler, hadn’t traveled to Australia after the IPL with the BCCI said that he was “working with the medical team on his bowling workload management”.
NEWS: T Natarajan to replace Umesh Yadav in India’s Test squad. #TeamIndia #AUSvIND
Details 👉 https://t.co/JeZLOQaER3 pic.twitter.com/G9oXK5MQUE
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 1, 2021
Yadav and Shami, who cracked his forearm while batting during the series-opening day-night Test in Adelaide, will face rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru in a demand to be ready for some section of the England series at home in February-March.
Natarajan staying on in Australia with the team after a successful limited-overs opening into the Indian team.
He was the highest wicket-taker over the two sides in India’s T20I series win – 6 wickets in 3 games at a standard of 13.83 and an economy rate of 6.91. He was also made his ODI debut in the Australian capital, finishing with two for 70 in India’s 13-run win as they lost the series 2-1.
Overall, Natarajan has highlighted in 20 first-class games, all for Tamil Nadu, and he picked up 64 wickets. His previous red-ball outing came about a year before in a Ranji Trophy fixture against Railways in Chennai.
India Test team: Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Mayank Agarwal, Shardul Thakur, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, R. Ashwin, Md. Siraj, T Natarajan