T Natrajan : I survived on midday meals during school

T Natarajan hails from a very poor background. As a child, his mother used to run a street-side stall while his father worked as a porter. Therefore, Natarajan has had to struggle to get to the highest level. But to his credit, Natrajan has managed to overcome the odds he has faced so far, but he hasn't forgotten his difficult past. 

“We all understood that there was a lack of resources in the house. Our family got rice through the public distribution system. During school term, we survived on midday meals.”

After playing tennis ball cricket in Salem in Tamil Nadu at an earlier stage, he moved to Chennai to play for the famous Jolly Rovers, a club whose alumni boasts of names such as R Ashwin and Murali Vijay. However, his big break came in the form of the Tamilnadu Premier League. Ever since then the 26-year-old has made a lot of news for his death bowling skills in the TNPL. 

Following his exploits in the TNPL, Natrajan was handed a base price of Rs 10 lakhs for this year's IPL auction, but a battle between Rising Pune Supergiants and Kings XI Punjab saw the Punjab based franchise secure his services for a whopping Rs. 3 crores.

Reacting to his final price, Natrajan said, “It was just too much pressure. In my head, I knew I would make it but the final bid price was a bit of a shock.”