IND v AUS 2020, 2nd T20I: 'T Natarajan was the only bowler who won hearts' - Aakash Chopra
Former opener Aakash Chopra has opined that T Natarajan was the only Indian bowler to cover himself in glory and win everyone's hearts in yesterday's second T20I against Australia.
He made this observation while talking about India's bowling performance in the encounter in a video shared on his Facebook page.
Aakash Chopra pointed out that the Australian batsmen took the attack to the Indian bowling, with Matthew Wade taking almost all the bowlers to the cleaners.
"The Australian batsmen blasted the Indian bowling. D'Arcy Short had got out but Matthew Wade hit all the bowlers in a democratic fashion. He hit Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, whoever was bowling was getting smashed."
The reputed commentator observed that the wily Yuzvendra Chahal faced the brunt of the Aussie batsmen's willows with the usually frugal Washington Sundar not spared as well.
"In fact, later even Yuzvendra Chahal got hit a lot. He conceded more than 50 runs in his four overs, Deepak Chahar also almost reached around 50 runs in his four overs, Shardul Thakur was also expensive and even Washington Sundar got hit for runs this time."
Aakash Chopra on T Natarajan's exceptional performance with the ball
Aakash Chopra lauded the heart-warming performance put in by T Natarajan despite his relative inexperience at the international level. He pointed out that the Sunrisers Hyderabad seamer was both penetrative and economical.
"T Natarajan was the only bowler who won hearts. It was just his second T20I match and third overall international encounter and how well he bowled. He was given one over each in four spells, he took wickets and was economical as well."
Aakash Chopra signed off by stating that T Natarajan had delivered a memorable spell, considering that none of the other bowlers could make an impression in yesterday's encounter.
"The bowlers got hit so much that we will remember Natarajan's spell for a long time. He was looking different from all the other bowlers. He is the biggest positive from this match."
T Natarajan bowled four exceptional overs in yesterday's second T20I against Australia. The left-arm pacer conceded just the 20 runs while also snaring the wickets of D'Arcy Short and Moises Henriques.
His performance drew effusive praise from Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya at the post-match presentation, with the latter even saying that T Natarajan deserved the Man of the Match award more than him.