“Dear Cricket, give me another chance,” read a post on Karun Nair‘s X account (formerly Twitter) on December 10, 2022, as the India batter expressed his desperation to don the coveted Indian jersey once again. Fast forward to 2025, Karun Nair has deservedly earned his place back in the Indian team, having been picked in the squad for the England tour on the back of some stupendous performances in domestic cricket.
The 33-year-old further cemented his place in the playing XI by scoring a sensational double hundred in the tour game. With that, the stage looked set for the return of the prodigal son of Indian cricket, as he embarked on a new chapter of his international career.It was a true Cinderella story when
Karun Nair reaped the rewards for his consistency on the domestic circuit and was handed a chance to return to the Indian Test team after a gap of 3006 days. That time period seems like a lifetime in cricket — you may be a star one day and then completely forgotten the next. But Karun Nair’s ‘s comeback had merit.
He played a pivotal role in Vidarbha’s triumph in the 2024–25 Ranji Trophy, finishing as the fourth-highest run-getter of the season. He scored 863 runs from 16 innings at an average of 53.93, including four centuries and two fifties. Then came the exploits in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, which were just surreal — 779 runs from eight innings at a staggering average of 389.50 and a strike rate of 124.04, featuring five hundreds and a fifty.
He wasn’t just knocking on the door, he was breaking it down. The IPL came around, and we all remember how he was able to rile up the great Jasprit Bumrah, whom he rushed to hug after his five-wicket haul at Lord’s. When he reached the England shores, Karun Nair made an instant impact, scoring a double hundred against the England Lions and pushing his case. Then came the reward. Cricket gave him the chance, and the world rejoiced. But the story is currently playing out in a very different fashion.
Karun Nair’s gradually progressing vs England, but his performances are far from noteworthy
Karun Nair was batting at No.6 in the first Test, and his return wasn’t what he would have hoped for — a four-ball duck and then batting at a strike rate of 37, scoring 20 off 54 balls while India looked to extend their lead beyond 400. The Edgbaston Test saw flashes of brilliance as he scored 31 but failed to convert it. Then, in the second innings, he looked to be in fine touch once again, but only got 26 before getting out. The Indian team management gave him another chance at Lord’s.
The 33-year-old came in to bat with India in big trouble as Jofra Archer was steaming in and had just dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal. Karun and KL Rahul faced the music till tea and slowly, the duo started to get moving.And it was Karun Nair who seemed to be a bit more aggressive, getting those strokes going. He looked to be playing with soft hands and being careful. But then, when you don’t have luck on your side, you just don’t have it.
He found an edge playing away from the body, and Joe Root produced a blinder. The Indian batter was back in the hut for 40. Another innings that promised a lot, yet failed to deliver.Karun Nair now has 117 in 5 innings. For context, Shubman Gill, at the same time, has 601 runs from the same number of innings.
Well, not a lot is going wrong for Karun. He is playing well but seems to be finding ways to get out at the moment. Even the ball he got out to on Day 2 wasn’t unplayable — yet he found a way to get dismissed. This was something that Former Indian batter now commentator Sanjay Manjrekar found out in like a chink in the armour of Karun Nair’s pyrotecnics with the bat.
Sanjay Manjrekar points out the mistake in Karun Nair’s display with the bat after he failed in the 3rd Test
Karun Nair faced fans’ wrath once again as he got dismissed on 40 off 62 balls in the third Test against England at Lord’s. The no.3 batter survived new ball spells and looked set. However, instead of converting the start into a big score, he succumbed to Ben Stokes. England’s tail batted brilliantly on Day 2 of the Lord’s Test to add 100-odd runs to the team’s total as India bowled them out for 387 in the first inning. Jasprit Bumrah etched his name on the Lord’s honours board with a five-wicket-haul.
However, India’s batting struggled, especially Karun Nair, as he faced criticism on social media. Indian management trusted Karun Nair for the ongoing England tour as he marked his return to the Test format after 8 years. However, the batter has failed to impress. In 4 innings, he accumulated just 77 runs, including a duck.
At Lord’s, he was tasked to rebuild the innings after Yashasvi Jaiswal’s early dismissal at 13/1. While he performed that task brilliantly to knit a 61-run partnership with KL Rahul, Karun Nair lost focus and wasted a golden opportunity to convert a steady start into a big score. Ben Stokes bowled a back-of-a-length ball that angled in and straightened, catching Karun Nair in the crease. He nicked it from the shoulder of the bat, and the edge flew between the keeper and slip.
But Joe Root, stationed at first slip, dove full stretch to his left, using his wrong hand, and latched it just millimetres above the turf. The catch was sent upstairs, but the third umpire confirmed that Root’s fingers were under the ball and the catch was clean. Hence, Karun Nair walked back on 40 off 62 balls.
Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar pointed out some flaws in Karun Nair’s batting techniques and style during Day 2 of the Lord’s Test. During his discussion on EspnCricinfo , Sanjay Manjrekar opined that Karun Nair’s bating style can be credited to his string of low scores in the series. As per the 59-year-old, the bowlers are exploiting Karun Nair’s habit of playing with hard hands and keeping him away from reaching a three- figure mark .
“With the kind of batting style that he has, he did the best he could. I love the way how he tackled that line outside off, but somewhere his deep-rooted instinct of playing sometimes with hard hands and loosely, he’s just making things difficult for him to cash in from converting his 20s, 30s to a big 100. So, there’s always that gates open for the bowlers to sneak in.”
For Karun nair , time is running out. And the competition for his spot is heating up. Sai Sudharsan, who would feel a bit undone to lose his spot after showing his talent in the first Test, is waiting in the wings. Then you have another domestic stalwart in Abhimanyu Easwaran, who seems to be patiently biding his time for the right moment to come in and make an impact.
Even Dhruv Jurel — someone who scored 227 runs during the unofficial Tests against the England Lions, including three fifties — looks eager to be back in the mix after his impressive debut in Tests. This puts the scanner firmly back on Karun, who now has three top players breathing down his neck.
Stories like this on our film screens always have a fairytale ending. They end with the hero scoring the winning runs or getting redemption in the form of a hundred. For Karun Nair, neither of those things has happened yet — and it looks like his story, or at least this chapter, is coming to an end.
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