T Natarajan earns maiden India call-up for Australia series; here's how David Warner reacts

Image Credits: Twitter/@IPL

SunRisers Hyderabad pacer Thangarasu Natarajan on Monday earned his maiden call-up in the Indian men's cricket team for the upcoming three-match Twenty20I series against Australia, beginning December 4 at Manuka Oval in Griffith. And SRH skipper David Warner has congratulated his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise teammate for receiving the national nod.

Australian opening batsman David Warner took to his official Instagram handle and shared a video in which he could be seen wishing left-arm yorker specialist Natarajan for being included in the Indian squad.

"Congratulations Nattu, I'll see you in Australia,"an ecstatic Warner said in the video.

Natarajan has been included in the 16-member T20I squad as a replacement for mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who has been ruled out of the Australia tour with a shoulder injury.

Earlier, the selection committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named Natarajan as one of the four reserve pacers who would be travelling with the Indian for their upcoming tour of Australia.

Natarajan’s exploits with the ball in IPL 2020 was one of the highlights of SRH’s season, which ended with a 17-run defeat at the hands of the Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 2 in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. The Tamil Nadu pacer bagged a total of 16 wickets in 16 matches he bowled for his IPL franchise during the 2020 season.

Meanwhile, Warner also decribed SRH's IPL 2020 campaign as a 'mixed season', while adding that he is extremely proud of the way his team has performed following a bad start to the tournament.

"We didn't start too well, but at the back end we got some really good momentum given that we had 4-5 injuries.To finish off the way we did and to finish where we did, I am extremely proud of the guys. Hopefully next year we can go one step further and make that final," Warner said.

View this post on Instagram

Thanks to all our loyal supporters who watched and followed us this year. Sorry we could not get the job done but we gave it our best. Hopefully we can go one step further next season. #cricket #ipl #buttabomma

A post shared by David Warner (@davidwarner31) on Nov 9, 2020 at 4:00am PST

On a related note, skipper Virat Kohli will return home after the first Test against Australia as he’s expecting his first child with his actress wife Anushka Sharma. Opening batsman Rohit Sharma has been included in the Test squad but rested from the ODI and T20I squads because of his recent hamstring injury.

Besides T20Is, India are also slated to play three-match ODI series from November 27 to December 2 as well as four-match Test series from December 17 to January 19.