T Natarajan

Some Lesser Known Facts About Thangarasu 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 road-side 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 some limelight when he represented the team of BSNL in 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 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.