India left-arm pacer T Natarajan is doubtful for the upcoming T20I series against England due to a shoulder injury, the ANI has reported.
According to the report, the 29-year-old is racing against time as he is currently undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
Natarajan made his international debut in the third ODI against Australia on December 2 in Canberra. Subsequently, he was the wrecker-in-chief for Team India in the T20I series as he helped the visitors beat Australia 2-1. Natarajan was the highest wicket-taker in the T20I series as he claimed six wickets in three matches at an average of 13.83.
"He is down with a knee and shoulder injury and is in doubt for the T20I series. Will have to take it one day at a time and it is a race against time," an NCA source was quoted as saying to the news agency.
Meanwhile, spinner Varun Chakravarthy has failed to clear the mandatory fitness test yet again by the BCCI. Chakravarthy could be replaced by Rahul Chahar in the squad as the latter would be a like for like replacement and was in the reserves for the Test series. The spinner has earlier played a T20I for India against the West Indies.
Interestingly, this is not the first time that Varun Chakravarthy will be missing on a potential India debut. The 29-year-old was ruled out of India’s tour of Australia due to a shoulder injury. Chakravarthy was the highest wicket-taker of the Kolkata franchise in the Indian T20 League last year.
The mystery spinner was picked in the Indian T20I squad for the England series after he had undergone a lengthy rehab at NCA.
The upcoming five-match T20I series will be played at the newly named Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad starting on March 12.
India's T20I squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Brenton Edwards
