Umesh and Shami will undergo rehab at the NCA to try to get fit for the England series in February-March
From being a net pitcher at the original tour party, T Natarajan could return home as an international in all three formats, after being named to the India squad for the remainder of the test series in Australia.
Natarajan, 30, replaced Umesh Yadav, who returned to India after suffering a strained left calf muscle during the Boxing Day test in Melbourne. This means that India now officially has only one net pitcher left, rookie Kartik Tyagi, after Shardul Thakur was added to the team as a replacement for Mohammed Shami last week. Kamlesh Nagarkoti, the other designated net pitcher, had not traveled to Australia after the IPL with BCCI saying he was “working with the medical team in managing his bowling workload.”
Yadav and Shami, who broke his forearm while hitting during the inaugural test of the day-night series in Adelaide, will undergo rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru in an attempt to be available for part of the England series in home in February-March.
Natarajan stayed in Australia with the team after a successful induction into the Indian team in limited. He was the largest receiver of wickets on both sides in India’s T20I series win – six wickets in three games averaging 13.83 and an economy rating of 6.91. Before that, he made his ODI debut at Canberra, finishing 2-for-70 in India’s 13-race win when they lost the series 2-1.
Overall, Natarajan has appeared in 20 top-class games, all for Tamil Nadu, collecting 64 wickets. His previous red ball outing came nearly a year ago in a Ranji Trophy game against Railways in Chennai.
If Natarajan makes her debut in Sydney or Brisbane, she will be the first left-arm closer to play test cricket for India since Zaheer Khan played her 92nd and final Test in February 2014 in Wellington.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma has joined the team in Melbourne and had his first training session on Thursday after completing a mandatory two-week quarantine in Sydney. Although the next test is in Sydney, Sharma traveled to Melbourne as the team will depart for Sydney on January 4 only. With Ajinkya Rahane as captain, Sharma will assume vice-captaincy from Cheteshwar Pujara, who did the work for the first two Trials despite not being officially announced.
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