Karun Nair is almost sure to make his Test comeback in the first Test against England starting from June 20. The return will end an 8-year wait for Karun who last played Test cricket for India in 2017.
In the last 8 years, Karun has been scoring heaps of runs in domestic cricket and has broken every possible batting record in the format to force a comeback.
He is now just moments away from making it to the India XI for the first Test at Headingley. Whether he bats at number three or number six is still a conundrum. However, his return is almost confirmed.
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Life Has Come To A Full Circle - Karun Nair
Previously, Team India Chief selector Ajit Agarkar also spoke about the experience that Karun Nair brings to the side and why he was chosen over Sarfaraz Khan who has also been scoring consistently in domestic cricket. Both Karun and Sarfaraz had impactful performances for India A in the lead-up to the first Test.
Ahead of the first Test, BCCI shared a video on Karun Nair, who spoke about how badly he wanted to make a comeback into Test cricket.
“My first thought when I woke up was I want to play test cricket, I want to play for India again. That's probably what kept me going and kept me hungry. The driving force, go to training every day, go to practice every day. I had a goal of I want to play test cricket again and I was always looking at playing test cricket and every day, every morning I used to wake up thinking what should I do to reach that goal.”
“Never losing that belief and having that target to reach was something that helped me. Feeling honored to wear this jersey and honored to be representing my country. When I saw everyone for the first time, that's when I really, you know, felt it that I'm finally in the team. Till then it was like a wait for me to kind of start feeling like I've made it again. It's been a few years, I used to always watch everyone on TV, now to be back again in this dressing room feels amazing. You know, getting that first session under the belt was relief, grateful to get that opportunity. Life has come a full circle because I went out of the team in England and now I'm coming back into the team in England. So it's been a while and I'm trying to embrace that" added the Indian batter.
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Karun Nair's Numbers In Test Cricket
Karun scored heavily in the previous Ranji Trophy edition for Vidarbha scoring 863 runs at 53.93. Before that, he smacked five tons in eight innings at an average of 389.50 at the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Talking about his Test career, he has played six Test matches scoring 374 runs at an average of 62.3 including a triple hundred in the 2016-17 season for India. Karun is only the second Indian batter to score a triple century in Test cricket after Virender Sehwag.
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