Thangarasu Natarajan of Salem became the latest IPL auction sensation after he was bagged for £ 300,000 by Kings XI Punjab. The son of a daily-wage labourer in Chinnappampatti village, 40 km from Salem, Natarajan was “stunned” when his price surged from £10,000 to 300,000 in a matter of seconds.
“It hasn't yet sunk in,” Natarajan, who is known for his yorkers and the similarity in action with Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman, said soon after he was picked up by Kings XI Punjab. “I'm not comparing myself with Mustafizur. He is phenomenal and I need to improve a lot,” a modest Natarajan said. The left-arm pacer started off as a gully cricketer, earning Rs 5,000 every time he helped his team win in the districts of Tamil Nadu. In fact, gully cricket was his only source of income till he made a move to Chennai to play the TNCA league.
Natarajan, the eldest of five siblings, said he was left speechless by the bidding war between KXIP, Pune Super Giants, Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad. “I have faced a lot of hardships. But I was feeling the heat during the auction. There was so much hype around me. It was an emotional moment. My parents are still daily-wage labourers. Nobody in my house understand cricket. When I was picked, I was talking to my friend and mentor A Jayaprakash. My villagers were celebrating it.”
The pacer came into prominence during the Tamil Nadu Premier League, where he was representing Dindigul Dragons. He bowled a Super Over against Tuti Patriots in which he landed four yorkers on the trot to win the match for his team.
The money that he will get from IPL will help repay some of the family loans and take care of his brother's education. “I personally don't have any wish. I recently constructed a house for us. Now I would like to repay some of our loans and take care of the education of my brother and sisters,” he said.
Even though he has an IPL contract now, Natarajan said he would “never forget” his gully cricket days. “That was my life. I will always remain the same Nattu or leftu Mani that I'm. Whatever I'm today as a cricketer, it is because of gully cricket. It had taught me cricket and life lessons. I never had a personal coach as such,” he said.
Life wasn't a bed of roses for him even after he had made his first-class debut for Tamil Nadu during the 2014-15 season. The 25-year-old, during his first Ranji game, was called for suspect action and had to spend two years on the sidelines remodelling his action. “I couldn't think properly after I was called for suspect action. I couldn't think of anything else as cricket became my life,” he said.
