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Karun Nair continues to knock on the door of the India selectors scoring bucketful of runs in domestic cricket.
Karun Nair has scored 745 runs so far in VHT 2024-25. (Screengrab/JioCinema)
Karun Nair has been making a lot of noise, with the bat. And he hopes that the Indian selectors have taken notice. It’s been nearly eight years since the talented batter last represented Indian cricket. He’s having a season of a lifetime having racked up 752 runs in just seven innings of the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 while captaining Vidarbha. And has steadily started getting endorsement from as host of former India cricketers for international return.
There are reports that the selectors have been keeping an eye on Nair who has scored heavily in both red-ball and white-ball cricket recently. And given the fact that the Indian men’s cricket team is in a transition phase, the 33-year-old’s form certainly makes him a prime candidate for another shot at reviving his international career.
The dream to play for India is still alive for Nair.
“The dream is always to play for the country,” Nair told news agency PTI. “So, yes, the dream is still alive. That’s the reason we play this game, to play for your country. So, the one and only goal was to play for the country.”
Nair was given Test debut during a home series against England in 2016 and he made waves by becoming just the second India batter to score a triple-century in the format. That innings though was the only notable contribution of his short India stint that lasted six Tests and 374 runs.
Nair is averaging 752 in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. With the selectors set to pick the India squads for the England ODIs and Champions Trophy, the Vidarbha captain’s stunning performance has come at just the right time.
“I think this is my third comeback (laughs). And I need to keep doing what I am doing at the moment. Keep scoring runs whenever I can in every single game that I play. That’s the most that I can do. Everything else is not in my control,” Nair said.
“But till it (selection) happens, it’s just a dream. It’s still not there yet. But again, like I said, I would like to focus on one innings at a time,” he added.
Nair says his current run is a result of years of hard work and persistence.
“I’ve not done anything differently. There is no secret. I think it’s just years of hard work and persistence, you know, the coming together of all of it. And probably you can say, taking each day as a new one and making sure that I respect every single innings that I play,” he said.
There was a phase when Nair wasn’t able to score runs in domestic cricket or in the Indian Premier League.
“I will be lying if I say I was not afraid. I think anyone would have those feelings. But I never had the thought that my career would end. I just had the thought of where it is going? What am I doing? How has this happened?” Nair said.
“It takes a while for you to come out of that phase and to understand what is happening and then what you are supposed to do. So, I told myself that I need to start from zero again. And give myself a few years and see where it goes. And then I can decide what to do. So, that was my thought process,” he added.
The struggling phase, Nair says, taught him a lot.
“It was a tough situation to be in. Emotionally, mentally. But yeah, it really taught me a lot of things about myself as a person and about my cricket. So, I am really grateful for those learnings. Without that, I don’t think I would be in this situation at the moment,” he said.