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Karun Nair makes a comeback to the Indian Test team after 8 years. After being dropped from the Karnataka team in 2022, he underwent rigorous training with his Under-25 coach and earned his spot back.
The BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar announced an 18-member India squad for the Test series against England on Saturday, May 24. One of the biggest news from the squad announcement was the appointment of Shubman Gill as India's new Test captain, with Rishabh Pant named vice-captain.
The selectors included new players in the Test squad, including Sai Sudharsan and Arshdeep Singh, while the committee rewarded some players for their performances in domestic cricket. One such player is none other than Karun Nair. The Vidarbha batter, who switched from Karnataka ahead of the last domestic season, made his comeback to India Test team after a gap of eight years. After 2017, Karun Nair was completely out of the selectors radar, believing it was the end of road for his promising career.
Karun first shot to fame when he became just the Indian batter after Virender Sehwag to score a triple century in the history of Test Cricket. He achieved this milestone in the Chennai Test against England in 2016, scoring an unbeaten 303 off 375 balls. Following this brilliant knock, many cricket enthusiasts and experts felt that the Karnataka-born batter cemented his place in Indian team. However, Karun Nair failed to maintain his consistency and eventually dropped from the team.
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Setback to comeback
Back in 2022, Karun Nair seemed to have thought his flourishing cricket career came to an end after he consistently endured three unsuccessful Ranji Trophy seasons, 2018/19, 2020/21, and 2021/22, as he didn’t score a single century for Karnataka side. Ahead of 2022-23 season, he was dropped from the Karnataka squad, sensing that his career might have come to an end.
However, Karun Nair's career began to flourish again when he switched his state team to Vidarbha. In his debut domestic season for Vidarbha, the 34-year-old witnessed a career revival.
Nair was in a blazing form in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he amassed 779 runs, including 5 centuries and a fifty, at an exceptional average of 389.50 in nine matches. However, Vidarbha fell short of clinching the Vijay Hazare Trophy after losing to Karnataka in the final.
Karun Nair played a pivotal role in Vibarbha’s Ranji Trophy title-winning campaign while amassing 863 runs, including 4 centuries and 2 fifties, at an average of 53.93 in nine matches. Nair scored a century in the final against first-time finalists Kerala to give Karnataka the first innings lead, which secured them a victory.
The secret behind Karun Nair's comeback to Team India
Star cricketer Karun Nair witnessed a career at Vidarbha in the recently concluded domestic season. However, he put a lot of hardwork to turn his game around. After playing his last match for India in 2017, Karun was dropped from the Karnataka team in 2022, which was a big setback of his career. Determined to make a comeback, Karun Nair trained rigorously with his Under-25 coach, Vijay Kumar Madhyalkar.
The veteran Indian batter faced 600 balls every other day for 6 months at an academy in Bangalore, practicing in the nets for 3 hours to rebuild his technique, temperament, and confidence. He also created a WhatsApp group called 'Comeback Season' with his coach and trainer to discuss strategies. A few months later, Karun Nair played County cricket in England and joined the Vidarbha team in 2023-24. His impressive performances in Ranji and Hazare Trophy led to his selection for the Indian team.
Apart from his performance in domestic cricket, Karun Nair unleashed his firepower in the Maharaj T20 Trophy, where he was the highest run-getter with 560 runs, including a century and 5 fifties, at an average of 56 in 12 matches.
10 out of 18 Indian players on their first England Test tour
The 18-member Indian squad for the 5-match Test series against England, starting June 20, was announced on Saturday. The squad is dominated by inexperienced players, with 10 of them set to play their first Test in England.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudarshan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Karun Nair, Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, and Dhruv Jurel haven't played a Test in England yet.
Only 8 players have experience playing Tests on English soil: Jadeja (12 Tests), Rahul (9), Jasprit Bumrah (9), Mohammed Siraj (6), Rishabh Pant (9), Shardul Thakur (4), captain Shubman Gill (3), and Kuldeep Yadav (1).
India's squad for the England Test series:
Shubman Gill (Captain), Rishabh Pant (Vice-captain & Wicketkeeper), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudarshan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (Wicketkeeper), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akashdeep Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.
