Cricket has given him many chances but will Indian cricket give Karun Nair one more chance?
Karun Nair just scripted one of the best comebacks the game has ever seen. He asked the game for another chance in 2022, and the game gave him opportunities, and the 33-year-old has grabbed and maximized every ounce out of them.
He made his first-class debut in 2013-14 for Karnataka, the season his team went on to win the Ranji Trophy. He contributed three consecutive tons in the final league game and the first two knockout matches. After hitting a lean patch in the next season, he made a match and tournament-winning comeback with a 328 in the Ranji Trophy final, allowing his team to defend the title.
He continued to pile on runs in the domestic circuit, with a 500-run season in 2015-16. His efforts earned him a spot in the Indian national team against the visiting English team. In just his third Test innings, he scored an unbeaten, match-winning triple ton for his country, earning him the Man-of-the-Match award. He was just the second Indian Test batsman to have scored a triple century after Virender Sehwag, the quickest to reach that figure in terms of innings played, and only the third Test player to convert his maiden century into a triple ton after Garry Sobers and Bob Simpson. Stuff beyond the dreams for any 25-year-old. Alas, that dream crashed pretty much as soon as it occurred. Karun was dropped in the very next Test match that India played, given a rope of just three more matches, and thereafter never considered for a spot.
Many mere mortals could easily slip into depression or be utterly frustrated and confused, and you couldn’t blame them. Karun knew he wasn’t done yet and returned to the domestic circuit to sharpen his skills. The road ahead wasn’t smooth, and after a few below-par seasons, Karun moved from his home state, Karnataka, to Vidarbha, after scoring over 3,700 runs, 11 centuries and 16 fifties for them.
He tops the batting charts for Vidarbha in 2023-24 by piling on 690 runs, which took his team to the final, which they eventually lost to Mumbai. He then went on to play county cricket for Northamptonshire and scored 487 runs in 11 innings, including a double ton. Yet no selection calls from anywhere.
In the Vijay Hazare trophy thereafter, he goes on to top the overall batting charts by scoring 779 runs in just 8 innings, at a strike rate of over 124. Vidarbha lost the final to Karnataka, but Karun had set the tournament on fire by amassing 542 runs without getting dismissed, the highest by any player in the world in List A cricket, going past New Zealand’s James Franklin. Before he was dismissed for 112 in his fifth innings, he had scored 112*, 44*, 163*, 111*, all for winning causes. He then went on to score 122*, 88* and 27 in the three remaining games and lifted the runner-up trophy as Vidarbha’s skipper, along with the Player-of-the-Series award. Still no hopes of selection at sight.
After succeeding in the shorter format, once again, Karun decided to maximize the variables in his control. Along with young Yash Rathod, Danish Malewar and skipper Akshay Wadkar, Karun helped Vidarbha lift their third Ranji Trophy title. He was the sixth highest run scorer in the tournament with 863 runs at an average of nearly 50, with four centuries and two fifties.
Surely age isn’t on his side, but one wonders what else he can do to nudge and coax the Indian selectors?
Well, Karun didn’t want to leave any stone unturned. He knows how big an influence the IPL can be on a player’s profile and perceived value. Till date, he has had a chequered IPL career across RCB, RR, DC and the Punjab Kings.
On Sunday, Karun Nair made yet another comeback, this time for the Delhi Capitals as an Impact Player and boy did he make his presence felt or what! He eventually scored 89 at a strike rate of 222.5, the highest thus far in the tournament. His 57-minute outing saw 12 scintillating, picture-perfect boundaries and five crafty sixes. Initially, he respected Deepak Chahar but went after Trent Boult and secured three beautiful boundaries off him; he made a statement when he tore apart Jasprit Bumrah, who is considered to be the best bowler in the world, and piled on 26 runs off his bowling at a strike rate of 194. The three boundaries and two sixes off Bumrah will be etched in our minds for a very long time. He took on Hardik Pandya and Karn Sharma as well, before Mitchell Santner got the better of him and pressed pause on what was shaping up to be one of the best innings in this year’s IPL.
Despite being in vain, it definitely was one of the best comeback innings in the IPL and one of the many comebacks that Karun has scripted, after being dropped from Team India.
Cricket has definitely given him a second chance since his tweet in 2022. The big question is whether Indian cricket will give him one more chance?
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As MI thrashed DC in a thriller at home, fans believe that the win can turnaround the season for MI.@gargiraut15 reports from the Arun Jaitley Stadium.@Wowmomo4u #IPL2025 #DCvsMI #DCvMI #MumbaiIndians #DelhiCapitals pic.twitter.com/Yt4TBoX4Vy
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