An answer amidst many questions
A sight of left arm fast bowler running in at full pace reminds Indian cricket fans of a lot of things. On positive side of those memories we have Zaheer Khan and that inswinging yorker to Strauss in the World Cup of 2011. Another one you might also remember was the magical first over from Irfan Pathan in the Karachi Test of 2006 — 3 swinging deliveries to get a hattrick in the very first over of a Test Match against Pakistan. However people like Arthur Fleck will remember Rahul Dravid’s constant struggles against Mitchell Johnson’s inswinging deliveries and the fact that we lost the Karachi test after Pathan’s first over heroics!
The left arm fast bowler is a coveted asset for any team. They have a natural action to take the ball away from a right hand batsman. Add to it the ability to swing the ball in and their lethality grows exponentially. Even with a tiny bit of a swing or seaming assistance off the pitch, you could have batsmen’s head falling over. Have them bowled or trapped in front of the wicket. The fact that most teams are packed with right hand batsmen also makes a left arm fast bowler even more effective.
Modern day cricket is heavily driven by data(like everything else) and that means teams are always looking to have a left arm quickie in their bowling ranks. A brief look at the current circuit should give you some hints — Starc, Fizz, Sam Curran, Amir, Shaheen Afridi, Cortrell, Boult and Wagner. Of these names, Starc, Boult and Wagner are probably the cream of the crop when it comes to fast bowlers. And looking at the list, you can also see what I am getting at here — A missing left arm quickie who plays for India (Or Byju’s India as it is now called).
Ever since Zaheer’s retirement India has been on the look out for a left arm quickie who can show some skill, consistency and accuracy. Unadkat came but quickly went back to Dinda academy. Barinder Sran was tried for a while before the selectors went looking 3D. Then they showed some interest in breeding Khaleel but then lost interest when they realized he is not like a happy meal. Within this context, the emergence of Thangarasu Natarajan as a bankable fast bowling option in limited over cricket becomes important.
If you have been watching cricket for last few months, you know what Natarajan brings to the table — An uncanny ability to bowl yorkers like a bowling machine. The lad’s been through an arduous journey and his rise to the top couldn’t have come at a better time for India. And now that he is playing for India, he doesn’t look out of place either(Advantages of IPL you could say). The off cutters, the inswingers and most importantly the yorkers have all been at display.
The journey forward is going to get harder for Nattu. With his rise comes more eyeballs and more data. There is going to be hours of video analysis on him that the batsmen will be studying. They will be especially prepared for the yorkers in the death overs. It will be interesting to see how Natarajan adapts when this happens. But the promise is there.
Amidst so many questions of getting our openers right, the middle order woes, Pandya’s bowling and the spinners going missing, it is nice to know we have found one answer at least. On to the Test series now!
**Images of Gambhir struggling against the short ball start flashing.**
