T Natarajan to replace Umesh Yadav in India’s Test squad

[Trichromatic]

Quote

MEDIA ADVISORY

January 01, 2021

T Natarajan to replace Umesh Yadav in India’s Test squad

Umesh Yadav sustained a strain in his left calf muscle on Day 3 of the second Border-Gavaskar Test in Melbourne. He underwent scans later in the day. The fast bowler will not recover completely ahead of the remaining two Test matches and has been ruled out of the series.

The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named T Natarajan as Yadav’s replacement. Ahead of the Boxing Day Test, Shardul Thakur was added to the Test squad as Mohd. Shami's replacement after the senior fast bowler suffered a hairline fracture in his right forearm. Both Shami and Umesh Yadav will head to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for further rehabilitation of their injuries.

Rohit Sharma has completed his quarantine and has now joined the Indian Cricket Team in Melbourne.  

Team India Test squad: Ajinkya Rahane (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Md. Siraj, Shardul Thakur, T Natarajan

JAY SHAH
Honorary Secretary 
BCCI

 

https://www.bcci.tv/articles/2021/news/147636/t-natarajan-to-replace-umesh-yadav-in-india-s-test-squad

[beetle]

Not a bad time for Umesh . He got to go home to see his new born daughter.

Congrats!!

[coffee_rules]

20 minutes ago, beetle said:

Not a bad time for Umesh . He got to go home to see his new born daughter.

Congrats!!

Umesh bhi? Sab ka season chal raha hain kya!  

[DeepSpace]

In a way, the best choice under the circumstances. The left armer adds variety to the attack. Shardul would have been useless and Saini has very wayward on this tour. Only thing is that we will be short on speed with both Siraj and Natarajan bowling in the 130s.

Edited January 2, 2021 by DeepSpace

[Franco Vazquez]

India doing Pakistani thing. From franchise straight to Test.

[Trichromatic]

 

[ViruDilSeKhelo]

22 hours ago, DeepSpace said:

In a way, the best choice under the circumstances. The left armer adds variety to the attack. Shardul would have been useless and Saini has very wayward on this tour. Only thing is that we will be short on speed with both Siraj and Natarajan bowling in the 130s.

 

I'd stick in Kuldeep, aim to bat big and then strangle them with spin. All spinners can bat too. Then we can operate with one pacer at a time whether Bumrah or Siraj.

[Lone Wolf]

23 hours ago, DeepSpace said:

In a way, the best choice under the circumstances. The left armer adds variety to the attack. Shardul would have been useless and Saini has very wayward on this tour. Only thing is that we will be short on speed with both Siraj and Natarajan bowling in the 130s.

There was a period in 2nd inns when Siraj was bowling in 138-139 kph range & was very deceptive the ball that got Green was 138 kph.  Bumrah at that same period was bowling 135 kph range probably because both were tired due a bowler short.  Nattu at that time may bowl low 120 kph. 

Siraj was bowling with a lot of Jazba Junoon in Shoaib Akhtar's words & gave everything. 

 

[DeepSpace]

3 hours ago, Lone Wolf said:

There was a period in 2nd inns when Siraj was bowling in 138-139 kph range & was very deceptive the ball that got Green was 138 kph.  Bumrah at that same period was bowling 135 kph range probably because both were tired due a bowler short.  Nattu at that time may bowl low 120 kph. 

Siraj was bowling with a lot of Jazba Junoon in Shoaib Akhtar's words & gave everything. 

 

None of our quicks are consistently as pacy as Starc or Cummins.

[Lone Wolf]

29 minutes ago, DeepSpace said:

None of our quicks are consistently as pacy as Starc or Cummins.

Well Starc is nearly express so yes..  But Bumrah & Cummins bowled in high 147-148 ks last time consistently.  Bumrah even clocked 153 kph (a single ball though)  so in 2018-19 Bumrah was bowling full tilt quick. 

Now as we have seen since NZ his pace is not at his usual self.  Someone said his run up is shorter than usual but I don't know.  As long as he is accurate even 140 kph consistently will be more than handy.  Siraj has dropped pace from that peak of 2017-18..  But looked deadly accurate at 137-138 kph last game. 

[DeepSpace]

5 hours ago, Lone Wolf said:

Well Starc is nearly express so yes..  But Bumrah & Cummins bowled in high 147-148 ks last time consistently.  Bumrah even clocked 153 kph (a single ball though)  so in 2018-19 Bumrah was bowling full tilt quick. 

Now as we have seen since NZ his pace is not at his usual self.  Someone said his run up is shorter than usual but I don't know.  As long as he is accurate even 140 kph consistently will be more than handy.  Siraj has dropped pace from that peak of 2017-18..  But looked deadly accurate at 137-138 kph last game. 

We all know pace is not everything. McGrath bowled at high 120s / low 130s for a large part of his career and he is a ATG. Shaun Tate consistently bowled over 150k and was wayward and look where it got him.

[express bowling]

10 hours ago, DeepSpace said:

None of our quicks are consistently as pacy as Starc or Cummins.

 

Starc is quicker than most test bowlers in the world barring Archer, Nortje and maybe Wood.

 

Cummins has bowled a tad quicker than Bumrah in terms of average pace on this tour.

 

But Bumrah had been quicker or than Cummins on other occasions.

 

9 hours ago, Lone Wolf said:

.  But Bumrah & Cummins bowled in high 147-148 ks last time consistently.  Bumrah even clocked 153 kph (a single ball though)  so in 2018-19 Bumrah was bowling full tilt quick. 

 

On our test tour to Australia in 2018-19 ... Bumrah was consistently quicker than Cummins.  Bowled atleast 15 deliveries above 150 k with a fastest of 153.3 k 

 

Cummins bowled a fastest of 147 k.

 

Bumrah was faster in terms of average pace too.

 

9 hours ago, Lone Wolf said:

Now as we have seen since NZ his pace is not at his usual self.  Someone said his run up is shorter than usual but I don't know.  

 

 

Even in 2020, Bumrah has bowled very close to his peak speeds in ODIs and T20Is.

 

In tests he has been slower than he was in 2018 and 2019.

 

In NZ, it was understandable as he was coming back from stress fracture of the back. Plus NZ speedguns give lower readings. 

 

Bumrah has to find out what is happening in tests in Australia. Dropping pace is not a good sign.  

 

A 135 k bowler bowling 135 k is ok  ... a 145 k bowler bowling 137 k means something is wrong ... could be loss of rhythm or some niggle.

[Trichromatic]

 

[Forever Indian]

Not a bad first day in office. Infact seemed the most assured of the lot. Only thing that needs further improvement is keeping pace further up.

[Ankit_sharma03]

Considering his limitations he bowled pretty well. 

[afan]

Impressive Test Debut so far isnt it.

Lets hope and wish him for a long haul

[Sean Bradley]

Natarajans strong suit is his accuracy and keeping it stump to stump with subtle variations. He is pretty much in the Chaminda Vaas mould with his height pace etc. But dont think he is there to replace Yadav Yet. Umesh is a beast at home conditions. When Ishant and Bhuvi is fit, Natarajan will find it difficult to make it into the test playing XI. But one thing for sure, Ntarajan should be right up there in T20 selections. After Bumrah his name should be there second on the list of t20 bowlers.