Chinnappampatti to Canberra: The inspiring journey of T Natarajan

A decade ago, Thangarasu Natarajan was an ordinary youth playing cricket with a tennis ball in an obscure village in Salem district. Ten years later, the 29-year-old bowler has not just made it to the Indian One-day International (ODI) team but also proved his mettle by taking two wickets in his very first match.

The talent in Natarajan, born in a very poor family in Chinnappampatti, 35 km from Salem, was first noticed by A Jayaprakash, who walked the extra mile to get the bowler where he is today. Even after getting into the Indian Premier League – first in 2017 with Kings XI Punjab and now with Hyderabad Sun Risers – Natarajan got to play his first match only in 2020.

He was then added to the T-20 team as an additional bowler for India’s Australia tour but ended up playing for the last ODI between the two teams on Wednesday. As she watched her son on the Canberra cricket ground wearing the Indian jersey, Natarajan’s mother Shantha could stop crying. Tears rolled down her cheek when Natarajan took the first wicket and she could not help but take an aarathi the moment the bowler snatched his second wicket.

“I could not control my emotions. It is the tears of joy because we always wanted him to play for the country. He was interested in cricket since he was in 5th standard and was mad after the sport. Though he was part of the Indian team, we did not know whether he would play this time. But when we saw him on the television our joy knew no bounds,” Shantha told Deccan Herald.

Natarajan’s father Thangarasu is a power loom worker and mother Shantha was running a road-side shop in her village. “We had no money even to buy notebooks though we studied in a government school. That is how poor we were. But me getting into IPL made our lives better. I want to give good education to my two sisters and a brother,” Natarajan had said in a video released by Hyderabad Sun risers.

Tamilarasi, Natarajan’s sister, is waiting for her brother to call from Australia to wish him for his “great success.” “It was Jayaprakash who recognised my brother’s talent and trained him. My brother first played for the Ranji team and then he got selected for the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL). People came to know about my brother when he scored a wicket in the super over,” she told DH.

Yorkers are my brother’s strength and he became famous in no time this IPL season as he bowled for Hyderabad Sun risers. “We are very happy and my brother will serve as an inspiration for many in the coming days. He is a standing example that hard work never fails,” she said.