T Natarajan, who was one of IPL 2020’s biggest breakout stars, is all set to miss out on the remainder of the current season after aggravating a knee injury.
The 30-year-old left-arm pacer has played only two matches this season and he may not be able to take any further part in the tournament.
Sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the IPL told Cricbuzz “that the pacer could be asked to report back to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore.”
Natarajan’s last game for SRH was against Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai on April 11 and his absence will be a big blow for his team. His yorkers made a difference last year and even got him a call-up to the Indian team.
On Wednesday, after the game against Punjab Kings, Sunrisers skipper David Warner had said that they are monitoring the paceman.
“He has obviously got a sore knee,” Warner said. “Given the circumstance in these bubbles, if he goes and gets a scan, he obviously has to sit out for seven days. He has to get back in quarantine. We are just monitoring him at the moment. The physios are doing their best to analyse from a face point of view but he obviously has to go out and get a scan at some point.”
The development throws the spotlight on NCA, reported PTI, adding that once he was back in India from Australia the BCCI never made it public that he had sustained a knee injury. It is worth noting that he skipped the domestic season with Tamil Nadu as well before missing part of the England series. He featured in the fag end of England’s white-ball assignments.
“Natarajan never fully recovered from his knee injury. He went for rehabilitation at the NCA but it is now evident that even when he was declared fit to make a return against England appearing in one T20 and one ODI, he was not 100 per cent match ready. Now he could be out for a longer period as he had rushed his comeback without doing proper rehab,” a BCCI source told PTI.