TNPL round-up: Natarajan's emotional homecoming

After becoming Sunrisers Hyderabad's yorker specialist in the IPL, and after having played for India in all three formats, T Natarajan played his first TNPL game in his hometown of Salem, with around 15 members of his family in attendance. It was also the first time that his parents watched him live in a competitive fixture.

Natarajan, who was representing Ba11sy Trichy, swung the new ball sharply in the powerplay before nailing his yorkers and bouncers at the death to come away with figures of 1 for 34 in his four overs.

The lead-up to the game was emotional for Natarajan, who finally realised his dream of opening a cricket ground with training facilities at his village, which is about 30 km away from Salem city. Two days out of the game, Natarajan formally opened his ground in the presence of his Tamil Nadu team-mates. On the day of the match, the locals thronged the Salem cricket foundation ground, welcoming Natarajan with the kind of cheers that are usually reserved for Ashwin, the biggest star in Tamil Nadu cricket.

Though Natarajan and the Trichy franchise lost to Tiruppur Tamizhans on Sunday, he must've been proud of his protégé G Periyaswamy, who closed out the match for the opposition. Periyaswamy also hails from Salem and was recently part of Rajasthan Royals as a net bowler in IPL 2023.

B Sai Sudharsan notched up his fifth half-century in six T20 innings, stretching back to the IPL final against Chennai Super Kings in Ahmedabad. His latest fifty was especially vital to Kovai displacing Dindigul from the top of the standings.

Varun Chakravarthy has been unhittable across seasons in the TNPL, but on Sunday, Sudharsan tonked the mystery spinner for three sixes and two fours. Sudharsan was more circumspect against Ashwin and finished with 83 off 41 balls against one of the best bowling attacks in the TNPL. Another day, another Sudharsan half-century, and another victory for Kovai.

Later in the evening, Tiruppur's R Sai Kishore struck a 23-ball half-century - the fastest in this TNPL - as a pinch-hitting No.3. He had a favourable match-up against left-arm spinners R Alexander, who was with Chennai Super Kings as a net bowler in IPL 2023, and K Monish, who has previously played the Ranji Trophy for Kerala, and aced it. Then, in a more familiar role as a defensive spinner with the ball, Sai Kishore returned 0 for 21 in his four overs.

The red-soil pitch in Dindigul offered extra bounce and zip to the seamers. Ashwin sussed out the conditions and precisely placed a fine deep third for a top-edged slog in a tense finish against defending champions Chepauk Super Gillies.

With Chepauk needing three off the last ball, P Saravana Kumar dug the ball into the Dindigul deck and drew a top-edged slog that was intercepted at that fine deep third. Had Sarath Kumar been placed squarer in the deep, the ball might have travelled to the boundary. Job well done from Ashwin, B Indrajith, the keeper, and Dindigul.

Then in Dindigul's next match against Kovai, they came up against Shahrukh, who is particularly powerful down the ground. So, Ashwin posted a straight long-on, a field that MS Dhoni often deployed for Kieron Pollard in the IPL.

M Siddharth, the left-arm fingerspinner, has been a consistent performer in the TNPL for a while, but he often played in the shadows of Sai Kishore, Tamil Nadu's premier left-arm spinner, at Chepauk in the past. In this season, Siddharth has led Kovai's attack, fronting up to bowl the tough overs in the powerplay. His fizzing arm ball has posed a threat to both right-handers and left-handers. Siddharth has managed only six wickets in five matches so far, but his economy rate of 5.25 is the best among bowlers who have bowled at least 15 overs this season.

Siddharth was born in Chennai and then he grew up in Indonesia, where his father worked and also played a bit of cricket. Siddharth then returned to Chennai to play cricket professionally. More recently in IPL 2023, he was a net bowler for CSK and prior to that, he had a stint as a net bowler with Mumbai Indians.

If Siddharth could keep up his form in the TNPL and carry it to the domestic season, he could potentially pique the interest of IPL scouts.

The most prolific spinner, in terms of wickets, in this TNPL is not Varun or the Ashwins. Shahrukh, whose primary role in T20 cricket is that of a finisher, has sprung a surprise with the ball, picking up nine wickets in 12 overs at an average of 8.00 and economy rate of 6.00. Overall, only Tiruppur's rookie seamer P Bhuveswaran has more wickets than Shahrukh this season.

Shahrukh isn't a big turner of the ball but gets just enough and works with the dimensions of the field to draw mis-hits. With Shahrukh pitching in with his offspin to complement the wristspin of Jhatavedh Subramanyan and left-arm orthodox of Siddharth, Kovai cover almost all bases on the spin front.

At a post-match interview, Shahrukh said that the ball was coming out nicely from his hand and that more overs at this level could help him be ready to bowl in the IPL as well.