Team India’s history-making batter eyes fairytale Test comeback after seven years

Scoring 374 runs in six Test matches may not seem extraordinary initially. However, when one of those innings is a remarkable triple century, it casts an entirely different light on the numbers.

It sparks a mix of admiration and a tinge of disappointment – a realization that while there was a moment of brilliance, the batter struggled to capitalise on opportunities in the other matches. For Karun Nair, this meant a second-highest score of merely 26 among his six remaining innings; he had scored a brilliant unbeaten 303 against England in 2016.

Nair’s last appearance in Indian colours came in 2017 during the home Test series against Sri Lanka. Since then, he has been on a challenging journey of career revival. Over the past year, Nair has showcased his batting prowess, steadily amassing runs for Vidarbha in domestic cricket and Northamptonshire in the English county circuit.

He scored 484 runs for the County side this season in seven matches with an impressive average of 49; this included a century against Glamorgan. For Vidarbha, Nair amassed 690 runs from 10 matches with two hundreds, helping his side reach the Ranji Trophy semi-finals. However, Nair is taking it one day at a time as he eyes a spot in the Indian Test team.

Nair on India comeback

With the recent departure of seasoned stalwarts like Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane from the Test team, a new generation of young talents has risen to fill the void. The competition for spots in the Test lineup has grown fierce, but Karun Nair remains hopeful, believing that he can script his own fairytale comeback.

“You have to be prepared for the grind. It’s just about the next game. And I’m not looking too far into the future because sometimes you can get stuck in thinking about what’s going to happen,” Karun told PTI.

“I’ve had scored a lot of runs in the last one year in all formats. I’ve just been trying to continue doing what I’ve been doing the last one year on every given opportunity…taking every opportunity as a new day,” he added.

But the last year has also rekindled Karun’s dream of walking back into the Indian dressing room.

“Yes, of course. Everyone plays this game to go out there and represent your country and that’s my only aim now — to play Test cricket again, which I think, I’m very confident that I can. I know that I’m good enough,” he said.