T Natarajan's knee issue is keeping him out of action at IPL 2021, but he has not left the bubble to have a scan yet as that would mean he would need to quarantine for seven days to re-enter the team's bubble. Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner said as much after Natarajan missed a second game in a row, against the Punjab Kings on Wednesday.
"He obviously has got a sore knee," Warner said at the post-match press conference. "Given the circumstances in these bubbles, if he goes and gets a scan, he obviously has to sit out for seven days; he has to go back into quarantine. We are just monitoring at the moment. The physios are doing their best to analyse from a face point of view. But he obviously has to go and have a scan at some point."
In Natarajan's absence, his replacement Khaleel Ahmed picked up 1 for 24 and 3 for 21 against the Mumbai Indians and the Kings respectively.
Last month, Natarajan had missed the first three T20Is against England as well because of knee trouble. He was picked for the fifth T20I in which he went for 1 for 39 in four overs. He also played the final ODI against England in Pune, registering figures of 1 for 79 from ten overs.
Natarajan had risen to prominence in the last IPL, where his yorkers made him a difficult bowler to score against in the death overs. After that his life took a fairy-tale turn: he was picked as a net bowler for the Australia tour but ended up making his debut for India in all three formats. Overall, he has played one Test, two ODIs and four T20Is for India.