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|| India Correspondent ||
Team India are all set to play against England in the limited-overs series, starting from March 12. However, their fast bowler T Natarajan, who had a successful series Down Under against the mighty Aussies, is currently in doubt for the upcoming T20I series against England owing to his shoulder injury.
While speaking to ANI, sources in the National Cricket Academy (NCA) has confirmed the news and said that although they are not completely ruling him out of the series, it will be difficult for him to be a match-fit so soon.
"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," the source shared.
Apart from him, young spinner Varun Chakravarthy will also miss the series and is likely to be replaced by Rahul Chahar in the squad as he has failed to clear the mandatory fitness test again. Rahul was already in the reserves for the recently-concluded Test series and with Chakravarthy's failure in the fitness test, Rahul would be a perfect replacement for the series. He has earlier played a T20I for India against the West Indies as well.
Meanwhile, Natarajan's absence would be a huge blow for India. Although there is something positive. All-rounder Hardik Pandya on Tuesday has posted a video on his Twitter account where he can be seen him fine-tuning his bowling skills. While he has been playing as a finisher in the national team in recent times, he didn't bowl much since his back surgery.
Last time, he was seen bowling in the second ODI against Australia in Sydney in November last year but he felt slight discomfort too. The question remains the same as whether he will be able to bowl consistently any time soon or the team management would stick to him as a batsman in the playing eleven.