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"Dear cricket, give me one more chance," said Karun Nair in a post on X (formerly Twitter) in December 2022 after seeing his cricketing career nearing a heartbreaking end. However, the middle-order batter turned things around dramatically over the next 12-13 months and is reportedly back in the fray for national selection. Nair's case remains one of the most interesting in Indian cricket. He scored the famous 303 against England in Chennai, yet couldn't become a central figure in India's plans for the longest format. However, with an exemplary performance in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign, Nair's astonishing numbers have forced the Ajit Agarkar-led national selection committee to stand up and take notice.
Dear cricket, give me one more chance.
— Karun Nair (@karun126) December 10, 2022
Over the last 6 innings in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, a domestic 50-over competition, Nair has aggregated scores of 112*, 44*, 163*, 111*, 112*, 122*. He is yet to be dismissed in this edition of the tournament, having accumulated over 600 runs without getting out.
His heroics with the bat also put him top on the list of most runs scored by a batter in the history of List A cricket without being dismissed. He is also only the second batters to score five centuries in a single edition of the tournament after Tamil Nadu's Narayan Jagadeesan. So far, only three batters have managed to record four consecutive centuries in List A cricket, with Nair being one of them.
"It was an emotional moment when I put that tweet," Nair told the Indian Express his unbeaten 122 and an unbroken 200-run stand with Dhruv Shorey (unbeaten 118) for Vidarbha against Rajasthan.
"For six-seven months, when I didn't play any cricket, all I did was travel three hours a day just to have a net session. I had no other option. I wasn't considered for any format and I was really emotional at that point of time. I had to move on and work on myself. Moving on wasn't easy, I needed a couple of months to get over it and then start practicing my skills and mindset. I would say, I was just preparing myself so that when I got another opportunity, I was not going to give anyone an excuse to drop me. For that, I needed to score runs and be consistent. So I just worked hard to get that back in my game," he said.
Record Alert
Vidarbha captain Karun Nair has now hit the joint-most s in a season in the #VijayHazareTrophy, equalling N Jagadeesan's (2022-23) tally of 5 centuries!
Relive his fantastic knock of 122* vs Rajasthan in quarterfinal @IDFCFIRSTBank | @karun126 pic.twitter.com/AvLrUyBgKv
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) January 12, 2025
The paper states that Nair is being looked into for the longest format as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma near the end of their careers in red-ball cricket.
"As India enter a transitional phase, with seniors Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli struggling in Tests, Karun happens to be a player that the selectors are watching with keen interest," the paper said.
Not too long ago, Nair was even struggling to get a team to play for. This is when the former India international and current BCCI GM Abey Kuruvilla came to his rescue.
"He was my selector during my U-19 days, and I had the freedom to walk up to him and say, 'Sir, I'm looking for a team to play, could you please help' and that's how I moved to Vidarbha. I'm really thankful for him and for the Vidarbha association because I was just looking for an opportunity and when it came, I just wanted to grab it," Nair explained.
"Everyone wants to play for their country and I'm no different. I would love to play Test matches again and for that, I know I have to keep doing my job again and again," the batter, one of the few triple-centurions in the world, concluded.