Rohit Sharma: Natarajan is the pacer who can sustain in the Indian line-up

Rohit Sharma, the vice-captain of the Indian cricket team, is strongly influenced by T Natarajan's 'strong personality' and believes that the Tamil Nadu left-arm fast bowler will continue to perform well and he the pacer for whom India in a hunt for a long.

Natarajan came with the team as a net bowler. He, along with bowlers Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, and Shardul Thakur, bowled Australia for 369 runs in the first innings and according to Rohit, it was nothing short of an achievement.

"Natarajan is a bright prospect for us, he showed a lot of discipline when he played for India in the white-ball format. He was coming off a good IPL and he carried that confidence into the white-ball series against Australia. Then to have a Test match like that, first spell he bowled was very accurate, if I have to judge," said Rohit during the virtual press conference on Saturday.

"Somebody who is playing his first Test, we can really say that he understands his bowling really well, it is something that India wants. Natarajan was trying to do what was expected out of him and I think he looks like a bright prospect for sure," he added.

The vice-captain further said: "They have played some first-class games coming into this Test. Playing against Australia in Australia was never going to be easy. But they showed a lot of character and they understood what the team expected them to do. We wanted to make sure that once Saini walked off, how we can contain and put pressure on Australian batsmen by not giving them easy runs, run-scoring can be easy here as it is a good pitch. Playing their first match, they showed a lot of character and discipline and yes, the team was expecting them to do something and both Sundar and Natarajan did that really well."

T Natarajan made his international debut in all three formats for India in the ongoing Australia tour. He came into the limelight after performing well in Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy for Tamil Nadu. The pacer was also the part of Sunrisers Hyderabad and he performed well for the David Warner led team.