FILE – Karun Nair managed to score 205 runs across eight innings and four Tests during the recently concluded England tour. Photo: AP
Karun Nair got a second chance to resuscitate his international career, but there was no fairy tale ending in his attempt to fill the vacant space left by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli who announced retirement from Test cricket in May. Playing for India for the first time since 2017 in England, Nair managed an accumulated score of 205 across eight innings and four Tests at a below-par average of 25.62 in the recently concluded series. He scored only one half-century, which came in the fifth Test at The Oval.
As he could not grab the chance despite getting multiple opportunities and wasted promising starts, former India pacer Irfan Pathan came down harshly on the batter, giving him four points out of ten for his failure to capitalise on the chances.
“Karun Nair gets four out of ten. Why? He didn’t look particularly poor throughout the series. He kept getting starts consistently but managed only one half-century. He got plenty of opportunities. Cricket definitely gave him a second chance, but he couldn’t capitalise on it the way he should have. Especially in the Lord’s Test, he had a real chance to win the match for India but couldn’t do it,” he said on YouTube.
“Other than that, it often seemed like he was playing well, building up nicely, and then suddenly, he’d play a loose shot and get out. At The Oval, when the bouncer was used against him, he looked a bit shaken and seemed more unsettled and uncomfortable. So, he gets four points,” he added.
Talking about Sai Sudharsan, who also failed to impress, scoring 140 runs in three Tests, with a highest of 61 in the Manchester Test, Pathan said the batter had a lot of potential but needed to work hard on his skills to excel in international cricket.
“Sai Sudharsan came across as a player who, with a bit of work on a few aspects, clearly has a lot of cricketing potential. He could have made better use of the opportunities he got but wasn’t quite able to do so. However, I do believe that if he had played all the matches, things might have turned out differently, but it’s not that easy,” observed Pathan.
“When you go overseas, you get a chance, your team loses, then you get dropped, and later you’re brought back. Even selecting a playing XI is a tough job. But as a player, he’ll definitely feel that if he gets regular opportunities going forward, he can achieve a lot. I’ve always liked left-handed batters at the top of the order, and even in the last match when he got a chance, he scored a half-century and batted well. He has the ability to do well. That’s why he gets five out of ten,” he added.