IPL Auction Daily wager's son Natarajan: From tennis ball to IPL big bucks

[BeautifulGame]

 

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Natarajan comes from a humble background where such a sum is the stuff of dreams. "If not for cricket, I would have become a coolie," Natarajan tells Cricbuzz soon after the news of his recent riches came to the fore. His father does similar work while his mother sells meat on the street in the evening. Natarajan is the eldest sibling in the family that hails from a village in the interior districts of Tamil Nadu.

"I always loved playing cricket. I loved winning those cups, I loved it," he says. The cups that he refers to are those won playing 'tennis-ball' tournaments in his village. It goes without saying that these tournaments had to be played without his parents getting to know. A natural at the game, he was quick right from the start but making a living out of cricket, he admits, was something that he hadn't thought of in his wildest dreams.

However, all of that changed when A Jayaprakash, a cricketer playing in Chennai's fourth division, spotted Natarajan's talent. So convinced was Jayaprakash about Natarjan's abilities that he took him under his wings entirely. "I will take care of him completely, and you don't have to worry about him in any way," said Jayaprakash to Natarajan's parents and brought him to Chennai. Natarajan says he likes nothing better than playing cricket all day. He stays in the guest house of his club and his routine, in his words, is "room, practice, room."

From just bowling quick yorkers with the tennis ball, he soon branched out to cutters using the cricket ball once he started playing in the divisions and eventually Tamil Nadu. The breakthrough season was obviously the TNPL after which he was called for trials by as many as five franchises. It was no surprise then that he was eventually picked up after a lot of interest. "I owe it all to Jayaprakash. He was the only one who showed me a way and kept motivating me," says Natarajan with gratitude. "He was the first person I spoke to. I haven't even spoken to my parents yet," he adds. "I'm just happy right now. Very, very happy."

 

Great to see finally cricketers outside chennai finally breaking into TN.The best thing Srini done for TN Cricket is getting the TNPL up and running.

 

The viewership for TNPL was bigger than Big bash league last year.So technically the 2nd most watched Cricket league after IPL.We really need to get similar leagues in most other states.There is so much untapped potential for Franchise cricket in India.

[Texy]

Love stories like these! Thanks to IPL for bringing these guys to limelight. 

Edited February 22, 2017 by Texy