Rohit speaks highly of debutant Natarajan

Brisbane, Jan. 16: India’s vice-captain Rohit Sharma is extremely impressed with Thangarasu Natarajan’s “solid character” and believes that the Tamil Nadu left-arm seamer is here to stay with his insatiable hunger to succeed at the top level.

Natarajan, who came in as a net bowler, joined fellow rookies Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur to restrict Australia to 369, which according to Rohit is no mean feat.

“Natarajan bowled pretty well, to be honest. Playing outside the country (internationals) for the first time and bowling to such batsmen, it wasn’t going to be easy and he was not under any pressure,” Rohit said about the debutant, who was the pick of the bowlers with 3/78 in 24.2 overs.

“From ball one, he was right up there. He showed a lot of composure, is a strong character who doesn’t speak much but we all know he has a solid personality. He wants to do well for the team and also for himself. He is here to stay.”

For Rohit, considering that cumulative experience of the bowling attack was four Test matches, they need to be lauded for keeping Australia under check on a good batting wicket.

“They showed a lot of discipline and overall if I had to analyse the performance of these bowlers, I would say they bowled pretty well. This is a great experience for them bowling against the best batters, and test themselves,” he said.—

From ball one, Natarajan was right up there. He showed a lot of composure, is a strong character who doesn’t speak much but we all know he has a solid personality

— ROHIT SHARMA Indian batsman