View: India may have produced many greater cricketers, but as a triumph of spirit, this one’s for the ages

Thangarasu Natarajan is bowling in his village of Chinnappampatti near Salem, a nondescript second-tier town in Tamil Nadu. He has no shoes. His father works a powerloom as a daily wage labourer, and his mother sells fried chicken snacks on the roadside to augment the family income. Natarajan, or Nattu, as he is known, travels to Chennai in the unreserved compartment to play some matches. Not long after, he takes 3 for 78 on Test debut at the