Indian Premier League 2021
IPL 2021: Injured Natarajan hobbles out of IPL
The injury having resurfaced throws the spotlight once again on NCA.
The speedster's injury now raises questions about the rehab process in place at the NCA (Credit: DNA India)
Sunrisers Hyderabad was dealt a big blow as one of their premier pacers T Natarajan was ruled out of the ongoing Indian Premier League due to a knee injury that he had picked up during the series against Australia.
Natarajan had played only two out of the four games for Sunrisers Hyderabad this season and it is understood that he never fully recovered from the knee injury that he had sustained due to excessive workload on the tour of Australia.
"Natarajan never fully recovered from his knee injury. He went for rehabilitation at the NCA but it is now evident that even when he was declared fit to make a return against England appearing in one T20 and one ODI, he was not 100 per cent match ready. Now he could be out for a longer period as he had rushed his comeback without doing proper rehab," a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
Natarajan became an overnight sensation with his yorkers at death during the last IPL and subsequently played all three formats for India in Australia.
Once he was back in India, for the longest time, the BCCI never made it public that he had sustained a knee injury.
Hyderabad, meanwhile, registered their first win of IPL 2021 after a thumping victory over Punjab by 9-wickets.
Hyderabad's next game is on April 25 against Delhi at the Chepauk.
With inputs from PTI
