The 2020/21 season has been phenomenal for T Natarajan. From making a massive impact with Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2020 to making his ODI and T20I debuts against Australia in Canberra, the rise of T Natarajan has been well-documented. However, a spate of injuries to the Indian cricket team saw T Natarajan achieve a special milestone in his cricketing career. On Friday at the Gabba, during the fourth and final Test against Australia, T Natarajan was handed his India cap by Bharat Arun, the bowling coach of the Indian cricket team. T Natarajan became the 300th Indian player to do don the Test cap and it was indeed a great moment. In the same match, his Tamil Nadu counterpart Washington Sundar became the 301st player to play for India in a Test as he too was handed a debut. His cap was presented by another Tamil Nadu player, Ravichandran Ashwin who unfortunately missed this match due to a back injury.
T Natarajan thus became the second left-arm player after Jaydev Unadkat to make his Test debut. Unadkat had played his first and only Test in 2010 against South Africa in Centurion. After seven years, an Indian cricket team finally had a left-arm bowler in the side, with Zaheer Khan having last featured in the Wellington Test against New Zealand. If one looks at the cap number, the 100th cap given to an Indian player was Baloo Gupte in 1960/61 while the 200th cap was given to former India keeper Nayan Mongia.
The inclusion of T Natarajan and Washington Sundar meant that India played with five debutants or more in a series for the first time since the England tour of 1996. In that series, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Joshi, Paras Mhambrey, Vikram Rathour and Venkatesh Prasad all made their debuts at some point in the series. However, the spate of injuries in the Indian cricket team meant that for the first time in their history, the Indian cricket team has used 20 players of their squad on the entire tour. Previously, the highest number of players that they have used in a series was 17 during the 2018 England tour, 2014/15 Australia tour as well as in 1959 also in England.
Brilliant start for India
Australia won the toss and chose to bat but the Indian pace attack, having a combined experience of just five Tests, showed their class. Mohammed Siraj dismissed David Warner in the very first over while T Natarajan got some shape and swing as he bowled three maidens in four overs to concede just one run. Shardul Thakur, who last played a Test match against the West Indies in 2018 in Hyderabad, struck with his first ball in Test cricket in Australia as he removed Marcus Harris cheaply by giving a catch to debutant Washington Sundar at square leg.
Australia was once again dependant on Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith to revive their hopes as Australia looked to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after six years. The four-match series is currently tied 1-1 but Australia has not lost a Test at the Gabba since 1988.
