Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players'A fantastic talent that India has': Kane Williamson heaps praise on India youngster
Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, T Natarajan and Navdeep Saini led India's bowling charge in the final two games in Sydney and Brisbane. Of the lot, Kane Williamson sounded the most impressed with Natarajan, whom he played alongside in IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad.
As Kane Williamson continues to bask in the glory of his team's qualification for the final of the World Test Championship, the New Zealand captain spoke on a range of topics, some of which are related to Indian cricket. Williamson lauded India's historic Test triumph over Australia Down Under and spoke about the emphatic performance by their fast bowlers despite losing a couple of senior campaigners to injury.
With Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav getting ruled out due to respective injuries, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, T Natarajan and Navdeep Saini led India's bowling charge in the final two games in Sydney and Brisbane. Of the lot, Williamson sounded the most impressed with Natarajan, whom he played alongside in IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad. The left-arm pacer's career has been on an upward curve of late and Williamson couldn't be prouder.
Also Read | Two notable omissions in Gambhir's India XI for the first Test against England
"Natarajan is just an amazing guy. What a fantastic IPL tournament he has had. And the opportunities and the doors that opened for him just week by week as he ended up playing the Gabba Test and what a famous victory that was for India," Williamson told Sports Today
"You know (this is) just an incredible time in his life and I appreciate, I suppose, to have some involvement just being his team-mate in the last IPL and some of the years before."
Also Read | Twitter abuzz after notable Indian cricketers tweet on farmers' protest
Natarajan made his India debut during the final ODI against Australia, picking up 2/70. He subsequently played the T20Is and grabbed six wickets from three games. Natarajan was then added to India's Test squad as a replacement for injured Umesh and ended up earning his Test cap in Brisbane, a match in which he picked up 3/78 in the first innings, including wickets of Matthew Wade and centurion Marnus Labuschagne in consecutive overs.
He may have been left out of India's Test series against England, but it takes nothing away from what he's achieved since first turning up for SRH in the IPL last September.
"But an amazing story and such a humble guy and a fantastic talent that India has right there. I think also with his age, as well, he has just blossomed and become such a mature cricketers in such a short period of time, without playing a huge amount of cricket," Williamson added,
"I'm fortunate to play with him and it was awesome watching how he played going to Australia and taking up those opportunities as well."
