T Natarajan became an overnight sensation with his outstanding stint for team India in their tour of Australia. 29-year-old Natarajan became the first Indian to make his debut in all three formats for his country on the same tour. The Sunrisers Hyderabad’s bowler clinched a total of 6 wickets in the three-match T20I series against Australia. He maintained an economy of 6.92 and a decent strike rate of 12.00. T Natarajan was handed a chance to represent India for the first time in the fourth Test at Brisbane.
The Tamil Nadu speedster racked up a total of three important wickets which included the likes of Marnus Labuschagne and Matthew Wade in the first innings of the fourth Test. However, T Natarajan has been caught struggling in one particular area while bowling. T Natarajan has been a regular at bowling no bowls in the Brisbane Test. Australian ace spinner Shane Watson was the first to point out T Natarajan’s consistency in bowling no balls.
AUS vs IND: Shane Warne finds something goofy about T Natarajan
Shane Warne, in an interview with Fox Cricket, stated that Natarajan going to 7 no-balls in Test cricket is something that can not be avoided. Shane Warne added that it’s a ‘big’ thing to bowl 5 no-balls and that he found the situation very ‘odd’ as well. Australia’s legendary skipper further added that Natarajan bowling 5 no-balls off the first delivery of an over is seemingly very ‘interesting’.
“Just something interesting that’s caught my eye when Natarajan was bowling, he’s bowled seven no-balls in this match and they’ve all been big ones. And five of them have been off the first ball — and they’re miles over. I found that very odd. We’ve all bowled no-balls, but five of them off the first ball of an over, it’s just interesting,” said Warne in a chat with Fox Cricket.
It will be safe to say that Shane Warne was hinting at an apparent malfunction carried out by the Indian bowler. Although the Australian didn’t say it out loud, it looks like Shane Warne was accusing T Natarajan of some sort of match-fixing during the 4th Test.
