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The year was 2017, and the month was March. Eight years ago, Karun Nair played his last for India. The same year, Nair scored one fifty in the Indian Premier League, until last night in Delhi, when the veteran India batter smashed his first IPL half-century after over 2500 days.
Away from the limelight, Nair continued to do his thing. Score runs. Plenty of them. Having left Karnataka and found a new home in Vidarbha, Nair was unstoppable during the last domestic season for India, emerging as the highest run-scorer in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and pummelling 863 runs from nine matches.
Nair has done everything possible to win his place back in the Indian team. The same team for which he scored a Test triple-century, the only man to do so after the legendary Virender Sehwag. However, despite putting on quite the show at the VHT, Nair could not break into India's Champions Trophy squad. Ajit Agarkar, BCCI's chairman of selectors, said his name was discussed, but that's the closest Nair came to it.
Former India batter Ambati Rayudu hopes that the 33-year-old gets his due. A few years ago, Nair broke the internet when he requested cricket to give him one more chance. And when the time came, Nair not only grabbed it with both hands, but broke the door down. And for that, Rayudu can't stop giving Nair enough credit.
"It's sheer persistence because what you go through when things don't go well for you in India is not easy to withstand. A lot of people have gone through that, and very few have come out of that with flying colours and Karun Nair is one. Because once you get lost in the domestic system in India, it is very, very tough to make a comeback. Especially because mentally you're always dragged down by so many things around you, and a lot of people will write you off," Rayudu said on Star Sports.
Will Karun Nair travel to England?
Having said that, a golden opportunity beckons Nair. With India set to tour England for a five-Test series in a couple of months, Nair could well be an asset to the Men in Blue. Indian batters' struggles Down Under in Australia was well-documented with the forms of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant coming under the scanner. With England believed to be even tougher, with the Dukes ball swinging, Rayudu has backed Nair to make the trip to the United Kingdom.
"Cricket is a game that moves on fast, but still, cricket has moved on, but Karun Nair, has not moved on. He has never left, learning, never left working hard, never, left the belief that he could make a comeback, especially in Test cricket. I would sincerely hope and love that he goes to England. He's on that flight, uh, in the Test series," he added.
In fact, Nair was part of Team India's 2018 Test tour of England, but all he did was warm the bench. In fact, Hanuma Vihari, who was later added as a replacement for the injured Hardik Pandya, got to play ahead of Nair.
