Karun Nair received India call-up after 8 years following which he expressed how he felt after getting to know about his selection. He mentioned that this was the moment he was waiting for and the 33-year old batter was grateful to be back. Karun Nair is popularly known for his triple century in Test cricket and was present in International setup since 2017.
Karun Nair had an exceptional domestic season that forced selectors to pick him, in the Ranji Trophy Karun Nair amassed 863 runs in 9 matches this also included four centuries. In Vijay Hazare Trophy he scored 779 runs in just 8 innings which also included five centuries. Karun Nair’s fantastic performance was the reason Vidarbha won their maiden Ranji Trophy title.
Karun Nair opens up on his darkest phase of his cricketing career
India batter Karun Nair, who has been recalled into the Test side after a long wait of eight years, said that he regrets not celebrating his triple century more. In an interview with Ravichandran Ashwin, Karun said that he should have lived that moment a little more and taken his time to enjoy it.
Karun Nair has been called back to the Indian Test team after an incredible domestic season where he led his team to a Ranji Trophy win. The batter also featured for the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League, where he ripped apart Jasprit Bumrah, one of the best bowlers in the world at the moment.
Karun Nair revealed that he was not a person who celebrated his milestones in an exuberant manner, and that he has learnt to live in the moment a little more. It has become a conscious choice to celebrate his milestones in the past 2–3 years.
“I should have celebrated that 300 more. I don’t think that I enjoyed that moment as I should have. Like when I see how people enjoy their milestones, I have learnt that you should not keep your joy within you, you have to show it. I think at that time, I did not value that moment enough. I should have enjoyed that moment a little more,” Karun Nair told R Ashwin in an interview.
Indian batter Karun Nair has said that the end of 2022 was a dark phase for him. The 33-year-old referred to the phase as harder than when he was not picked in the playing XI during the tour of England in 2018 and he had endured a lot emotionally, at that time.
The Delhi Capitals (DC) batter said that he was grateful to those who supported him in that phase.
“It was quite a dark place, end of 2022. Very emotional phase for me. The toughest time for me, even tougher than 2018. I am very grateful to everyone that has been part of my journey in the last 2-3 years, atleast,” Nair told R Ashwin on his YouTube channel.
The right-hander admitted that he was feeling very weird about not having played the game for approximately 5-6 months. Nair also opened up about how meeting former India fast bowler Abey Kuruvilla helped play a role in him switching states from Karnataka to Vidarbha in first-class cricket.
“In the months where I was thinking about what to do, I didn’t play cricket or any match for 5-6 months and it suddenly started feeling weird that I am not playing. I wanted to get out of home and play. I knew Canara Bank was going to play the DY Patil tournament. I reached out to Bharat Chipli and Mansoor Ali Khan, asking if I could come with them as a guest player.”
“They said, ‘yes for sure’. When I went there, I saw Mr. Abey Kuruvilla. I had known him from Under-19 days, he was a selector. I just went up to him and said, ‘sir if you could please find me a team, it would be really helpful’. He said, ‘yeah, yeah it will be done. Don’t worry. We’ll do something and you’ll surely have a team’. Within a couple of weeks, he put me in touch with Prashant Vaidya and that is how it began,” he said.
The batter also stated that cricket was not a gentleman’s game anymore as more and more athletes were expressing their unique personalities at the crease. Asked about the new generation, Karun Nair said that he felt distant from them, as growing up, he did not have the freedom to say things like youngsters do now.
“I am not sure that the gentleman’s game is a thing any more. There is a lot of freedom in whatever they do. The young kids are free to say things a lot of us would not say, and they play the way they want to play. I am not sure that gentleman’s game will be a term used in the future,” Nair said.
“They can look up to maybe Rahul Dravid (if they want to look up to a cricketer who personifies the gentleman’s game),” he concluded.
Karun Nair is expected to be in the running for a spot in the Indian playing XI for the 1st Test match against England. He is expected to slot in at No.3 or No.4, depending on India’s needs.
If it wasn’t just the BCCI clip, India’s final training session before the intra-squad match in Beckenham hinted at the possible batting line-up for the series against England. India did a bit of fielding practice on Thursday, with Rishabh Pant as the wicketkeeper, while the slip cordon featured Karun Nair at first slip, followed by KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, according to a report in RevSportz.
Nair is set for a return if the team goes by the slip cordon. Although his batting position is yet to be seen, with few experts reckoning he could replace Virat Kohli, who retired from Test cricket last month, at No. 4. The series will be held from June to August 2025, with matches scheduled at Headingley in Leeds, Edgbaston in Birmingham, Lord’s and The Oval in London, and Old Trafford in Manchester.
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