Natarajan is a fantastic talent and has grown into a mature cricketer for India, says Kane Williamson

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson is very impressed with the progress his Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) teammate T. Natarajan has made since the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, saying it was awesome the bowler grab opportunities he received in Australia recently.

After a fine outing for SRH in the IPL 2020, where he bagged 16 wickets, Natarajan was picked as a net bowler and travelled with the Indian cricket team to Australia for their 2020-21 Down Under tour. He was later added as a replacement for injured spinner Varun Chakravarthy in the Twenty20 International (T20I) squad. After impressing with his yorkers in the limited-overs leg, Natarajan was handed his Test debut in the fourth and final Test at the Gabba, where he picked up three wickets.

"Natarajan is just an amazing guy. What a fantastic IPL tournament he has had. And the opportunities and the doors that opened for him just week by week as he ended up playing the Gabba Test and what a famous victory that was for India.

You know (this is) just an incredible time in his life and I appreciate, I suppose, to have some involvement just being his team-mate in the last IPL and some of the years before," Williamson told Sports Today.

Williamson, who has also captained SRH, further added that Natarajan was a humble guy and it is amazing how quickly the Tamil Nadu bowler has turned into a mature cricketer for India.

"But an amazing story and such a humble guy and a fantastic talent that India has right there. I think also with his age, as well, he has just blossomed and become such a mature cricketer in such a short period of time, without playing a huge amount of cricket.

I'm fortunate to play with him and it was awesome watching how he played going to Australia and taking up those opportunities as well," the Kiwi cricketer added.