After a major collarbone injury restricted his participation to just two matches in IPL 2025, left-arm quick T Natarajan is feeling in good shape and rhythm in this season. In the injury-enforced absence of Mitchell Starc, who is yet to join the Delhi Capitals (DC) squad, Natarajan has fronted up to bowl the difficult overs in the death, a role that he once aced for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Natarajan has bowled six yorkers in three innings, according to ESPNcricinfo's logs. Only Jasprit Bumrah and Prince Yadav (eight each) had bowled more yorkers than Natarajan before Friday's game between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Natarajan attributed his improved fitness and rhythm to the various camps he was part of under the DC management, including with head coach Hemang Badani at Dubai Capitals in the ILT20 in the UAE and bowling coach Munaf Patel in Surat, in the lead-up to IPL 2026.
Despite Natarajan's history of injuries, DC decided to retain him for INR 10.75 crore for IPL 2026 and are now playing him ahead of Jammu & Kashmir seamer Auqib Nabi, who was snapped up for INR 8.4 crore in the auction last December.
"Last year, I broke my collarbone and I wasn't fully fit. Not many people knew that," Natarajan said at his press conference on the eve of DC's game against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk. "Even when I was recovering towards the end of the season, I was only around 90%. The DC support staff and the team management has been in touch with me, monitoring my matches and training since.
"Overall, the DC management has taken care of me in the past one year. Badani sir often chats with me and we even met during the TNPL (Tamil Nadu Premier League) and had chats. I attended a lot of camps in Delhi, Surat and Hyderabad. They sent me to Dubai for three weeks and the specific focus was on training."
After missing a major chunk of IPL 2025, Natarajan had returned to action in the TNPL, but only operated in the lower 120-kph range. He also looked rusty during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Tamil Nadu and though he hasn't cranked it up to the higher 130-kph range yet, he has been hitting the blockhole or hiding the ball away from the swinging arcs of batters with his slower bouncer in this IPL.
After emerging from the tennis-ball scene, Natarajan, for years, has bowled yorkers with a cross seam. In this season, he has bowled the yorker with the seam up and often found dip, which has added a new dimension to his bowling in this uber-attacking era of T20 cricket.
"A normal ball or a slower ball is easy to execute but it's not easy to execute a yorker," Natarajan said. "I feel the yorker is the hardest ball to execute. Whenever I had time in my village, I kept practicing the yorker with the tennis ball too. Before I used to bowl the yorker with the cross-seam. Now, I'm bowling with the seam [up], which has helped. Cricket has changed a lot. Everyone, especially the batters, are planning so well and keep attacking in the powerplay.
"I want to stick to my plans and strength. Even if I get hit, I want to stick to my strengths. I have greater clarity now and I've had three good matches. Ellaralayum panna mudiyum na, ennalayum execute panna mudiyum (if everyone can bowl this yorker, I have the belief to bowl it too). I've not forced it and think [the dip] is coming to me naturally this year."
Natarajan said that the last-ball defeat to Gujarat Titans in Delhi - DC ended up losing after David Miller had turned down a tie when they needed two off two balls - got to the side, but he backed them to bounce back against CSK on Saturday.
"Such losses will be emotional for the team," Natarajan said. "The IPL is a long tournament and it was just the third match. We've worked hard for this tournament and we stick together as a family. Whatever happens, Axar [Patel, the captain] has encouraged us to smile and keep supporting each other. It's good learning for us and overall with bat and ball, we look a good side. We have the depth to come back from any situation.
"In the last three matches, we've bowled well as a team. Besides fast bowlers, we have two world-class spinners in Axar and Kuldeep [Yadav]. Mukesh [Kumar] and Lungi [Ngidi] all have experience. Overall, the bowling unit looks superb for us."