India’s left-arm pacer T Natarajan who made his Test debut at the Gabba, Brisbane in 2021 has opened up on his absence from red-ball cricket. Natarajan who has been facing issues with his knee wants to focus on white-ball cricket to prolong his career. 
 

Last year, Natarajan wanted to make his red-ball comeback in Ranji Trophy 2023-24 season but pulled out due to injury. 
 

“It has been almost four years since I played red-ball cricket. It is not that I do not want to play red-ball cricket, but I feel that it makes my workload heavier. Right now, I am avoiding red-ball cricket. When the workload is heavy, I am having issues on my knee. So, I have stopped playing,” Natarajan told TOI.
 

Natarajan who was travelled with the team as a net bowler in Australia made his debut at the Gabba. He bagged three wickets for 78 runs in the first innings including Marnus Labuschagne and Matthew Wade.

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Natarajan has not played red-ball cricket since. For Tamil Nadu, he has bagged 67 wickets from 21 games including three fifers. While his focus is on white-ball cricket, the 33-year-old still hopes of playing red-ball cricket after a gap of couple of years.
 

“I love red-ball cricket more than white-ball cricket. Whenever I played red-ball cricket, I enjoyed it a lot. If things go to plan, I will play after a few years. If I train well for the next two years, there are chances for me to return. But right now, I am only looking at white-ball cricket,” Natarajan added.

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Natarjan’s recent T20 performances

Natarajan played 14 games for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 bagging 19 wickets including a four-fer. His most recent appearance was form IDream Tiruppur Tamizhans in Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) where he was the fourth-highest wicket-taker with 12 wickets from eight games.
 

Natarajan’s absence from white-ball team

Natarajan has not played T20Is and ODIs since 2021. He has played two ODIs and bagged three wickets. In T20Is, he has seven wickets from four games.
 

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