Delhi: Nearly 13 months ago, in December 2022, Karun Nair had tweeted emotionally: “Dear cricket, give me another chance,” along with a fingers-crossed emoji. Even after scoring a historic triple century against England in 2016, Nair was dropped from the Indian team, the reason for which still remains a mystery.
Explosive performance in Vijay Hazare Trophy
13 months after this tweet, Nair caught everyone’s attention by scoring 664 runs in Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024. While playing for Vidarbha team, he scored four consecutive centuries and took the team to the semi-finals.
Speaking to The Indian Express, he said, “When I tweeted that, it was a very emotional moment.”
His performance in the Vijay Hazare Trophy is even more special because he has not been out yet in this entire tournament. His scores were: 11244163111112122This is the highest number of runs scored without getting out in the history of List A cricket. Nair scored five centuries in this tournament, and is the second batsman after Tamil Nadu’s Jagadeesan to do so.
story of days of struggle
After that tweet in 2022, Nair worked day and night under the supervision of coach Vijay Madyalkar at the Just Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. He told, “I did not play any cricket for six-seven months. I used to travel three hours every day just to practice in the nets. At that time I was not selected for any format. It was a difficult time, but I worked on myself.”
Nair told that he needed a team, and during this time former Indian player and BCCI GM Abe Kuruvilla helped him, “I asked him for help, and got a chance to play in the Vidarbha team. I am grateful for this opportunity.”
fruits of hard work
He performed brilliantly while playing county cricket in England in 2023. Scored 690 runs in the 2023/24 Ranji Trophy. This was followed by a double century and a century in both Ranji Trophy and County in the 2024/25 season.
Karun Nair said, “Every player wants to play for his country, and I also want to play Test cricket. For this I will have to continue performing well.”
