Kapil Dev Reveals His ‘Hero’ From IPL 2020; Tamil Nadu Fans 'Super Happy'... No It's NOT MS Dhoni! 

In the recently concluded IPL 2020, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) fast bowler T Natarajan grabbed limelight in most of the games he played. His yorkers at the death, provided his side with many much-needed breakthroughs and that has now led him to join Team India in the Australia Series. 

Days after the 13th edition of the IPL concluded, former India captain Kapil Dev revealed his ‘hero’ from the IPL 2020; it is none other than fast bowler T Natarajan.

In a recent conversation with journalist Ayaz Memon on Day 2 of the 18th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Kapil Dev said he was highly impressed with Natarajan from Tamil Nadu for sticking to the basics of bowling accurate yorkers in an ever-changing dynamic that is fast bowling.

“Natarajan was my hero of the IPL. Young boy was fearless and bowled so many yorkers. The yorker is the best ball, not only today but even in the last 100 years,” Kapil said.

During the IPL, Natarajan emerged as one of the best bowlers during the tournament. His tally of 16 wickets proved instrumental in SRH’s road to the playoffs for the third straight year.

Looking at the big wickets he took, Natarajan picked up important wickets throughout the tournament, such as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli and his teammate AB de Villiers. With these big wickets, he was quickly rewarded with a maiden India call-up when his name was included in the T20I squad for the series against Australia.

Talking about Natarajan and his passion towards the game; his father was a porter at the railway station, while his mother was a daily wage labourer but that did not stop Natarajan from making his mark in the local cricket circles. From small circles he moved forward to the lower divisions in Chennai cricket.

After making into the Tamil Nadu Premier League; he was picked for Rs 3 crore by the Punjab team in the 2017 auction. Soon after moving to SRH, his luck striked and did well for himself and the team.