In a big blow to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), T Natarajan, who is considered to be one of the key players of the team, has been ruled out of the ongoing IPL 2021 with a knee injury. The franchise is yet to officially confirm the news and announce a replacement for the pacer.

Natarajan's injury apparently requires expert medical attention but the doctors have been unable to attend to him due to the stringent bio-bubble restrictions. The pacer was also not part of the playing 11 in SRH's last two matches. "Natarajan never fully recovered from his knee injury. He went for rehabilitation at the NCA but it is now evident that even when he was declared fit to make a return against England appearing in one T20 and one ODI, he was not 100 per cent match ready. Now he could be out for a longer period as he had rushed his comeback without doing proper rehab," a BCCI source reportedly informed a news agency.

Following SRH's fourth game of the tournament against Punjab Kings, the team's captain David Warner mentioned that Natarajan's knee injury was still troubling him. "He has obviously got a sore knee. Given the circumstance in these bubbles, if he goes and gets a scan, he obviously has to sit out for seven days. He has to get back in quarantine. We are just monitoring him at the moment. The physios are doing their best to analyse from a face point of view but he obviously has to go out and get a scan at some point," Warner had said on Wednesday.