Salem: Thangarasu Natarajan, affectionately called as the Yorker hero of IPL, is being appreciated by fellow cricketers as well as by his villagers for his stellar performance against Delhi Capitals on September 29 which gave the opposition a tough time by bowling five consecutive yorkers. For this, he received appreciation from cricket legends Sachin and Brett Lee and gained recognition from Tamil cricket fans.
Natarajan, the fast bowler from Tamil Nadu, is playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the current season of the Indian Premier League happening in the United Arab Emirates.
The 29-year-old fast bowler from Salem, about 345km from the state capital Chennai, is a compassionate cricketer. As he grew up learning the tricks of fast bowling with little access to modern facilities, Natarajan built a cricket academy called ‘Natarajan Cricket Academy’ to support budding cricketers in the village of Chinnappampatti where he developed himself into the cricketer he is today.
More than 30 youngsters, from Chinnappampatti and various parts of Salem who are interested in cricket, are being trained at the academy. According to the coaches of the academy, players of international standard are emerging from the academy.
While talking about the growth of Natarajan’s yorker technique, one of the coaches of the academy said, “It is here that Natrajan learned to bowl yorkers. Since 2009, we’ve been playing cricket using tennis balls in and around Chinnappampatti. He learned to bowl yorkers as batsmen would easily be able to hit length balls and practised it well. Today, yorkers have become his strength and style. We wish that, with his hard work, he becomes a part of the National team. He will achieve it. Natarajan has been running the academy for three years. From here, Periyasamy, Aravind and Gautham are playing for TNPL and are doing a good job. Many other players are playing for teams at Chennai level. It gives us pleasure that Natarajan is working with the ambition of making the dream of many rural cricketers a reality. He has brought pride, not only to our village but also to the entire district of Salem.”
Commenting on Natarajan’s play, his parents (Thangarasu-Saantha) said, “We are running a tiffin centre at Chinnappampattu for the past 18 years. Natarajan was actively involved in cricket since he was a child. We didn’t expect that he would reach such heights in the sport. We are happy that he has grown to take up the responsibilities of the family. We wish that he gets selected to play for the Indian National cricket team. Watching our son bowl on the television gives us great pleasure. All the people of our village also appreciate him to us. Our desire for him is to reach more height.”
Salem cricket fans say that Natarajan, who understood his family’s situation very well has reached an international level in cricket through hard work. He would, someday, add strength to the Indian cricket team. We wish Natarajan the best to turn his dream into reality.
