As a child Thanabalan regularly played football at school field of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil,
Sungai Gadut,
Seremban while trained by his own father. He later furthered his education at Tunku Ismail Sports School in
Johor. In 2013, Thanabalan signed a five-year contract with
Negeri Sembilan. He was listed to the senior team in 2013 season and was given the number 28 jersey. He made his debut in a 2-0 home defeat against Pahang on 22 May 2013, coming in as substitute in the 68th minute replacing
Nazrin Nawi. He also featured for the
Negeri Sembilan U-21 in the
Malaysia President's Cup. In 2014 Thanabalan made his first ever league start for Negeri Sembilan against
DRB-Hicom on 24 January 2014. He played for 68 minutes before being replaced by
Fauzi Nan. He made 14 appearances and scored 3 goals. Thanabalan was loaned to FELCRA in 2017. He made his debut against Penjara FC in the
2017 Malaysia FA Cup. He made 13 appearances and scored 5 goals. He returned to Negeri Sembilan in 2018 and made 12 appearances scoring 3 goals. In 2019, he transferred to Kedah. He made his debut in a 1-1 draw against Perak on 8 February 2019. He also won the
2019 Malaysia FA Cup and made 3 appearances in the competition. In the 2020 season, Thanabalan was loaned to Perak II. He made his debut in a 2-2 draw against Sarawak United on 29 August 2020. After his contract ended with Kedah, Thanabalan joined Borneo-based club Sabah and made a reunion with former Malaysia youth coach,
Ong Kim Swee. He made 10 appearances in all competitions for Sabah in 2021. In 2023 he joined second tier
Malaysia M3 League side
Harini FT,{{cite news ==International career==