T Natarajan, 30
Pace bowler made Indian cricket history by making his Test, ODI and T20I debut during one tour of Australia in 2020-21 after being chosen as a net bowler

Expect the unexpected. The tag suits T Natarajan to the T (no pun intended). When he started terrorising batsmen with unplayable yorkers in tennis-ball cricket in his village Chinnappampatti in Tamil Nadu, the left-arm pacer never thought he would bowl with a leather ball one day. That he would move from Salem to Chennai to play division cricket was never on the cards. Natarajan’s priority was to support his family of seven—father (a daily wage worker at a textile unit), mother (who sold chicken at a street-side stall), three sisters and a brother. And local cricket was a great platform as the prize money went to the family’s kitty.