When India captain Shubman Gill got the number of changes in the XI mixed up, he didn’t miss Karun Nair’s name. He was pretty clear about his return in the XI in place of Shardul Thakur, and so was the Indian team management about their eight-batter theory. Right through this five-Test series, they have preferred a batting option at No.8 and when Rishabh Pant was injured and Nitish Kumar Reddy was already out, it was a given that they would fall back to Karun Nair.
Karun Nair’s ‘second chance’ hadn’t really gone to plan. In the six chances that he got, the experienced right-hander failed to register a single half-century despite getting his eyes in on pretty much every occasion. He was dropped from the XI at Old Trafford, which many believed was a full stop on his career. But as Karun Nair has shown time and again in his career, never say never.
Karun Nair was not only back in the Indian XI but also holding their hopes of a series-levelling win. At Stumps on Day 1 of the fifth Test, Nair was unbeaten on 52. It was his first 50-plus score in Test cricket since making that record-breaking triple century (303) in Chennai in 2016 against the same opposition.
And it came on the most difficult pitch of this series. It came at a time when his career was on the line. The visitors got the first taste of the English conditions in this series as The Oval greeted them with a green top. The overcast, gloomy and damp conditions added to the difficulty level as the ball continued to zip around right through the day. But Karun Nair stood tall. He had batted at three, batted at six but No.5 brought luck for him.
Coming in to bat at the fall of captain Shubman Gill’s wicket due to a suicidal run out, Karun hit seven fours and his unbeaten 52 off 98 balls to take India to 204 for six at stumps.
Former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik said Karun Nair’s career was anything but over with the kind of knock he played in tough conditions on Thursday.
“Well played, Karun Nair. That’s a high-quality fifty in real tough conditions. Karun Nair’s career is well and truly back. If he hadn’t played this Test, then the team management could well have looked beyond him,” Karthik said on commentary.
Former India fast bowler Varun Aaron was mighty impressed with the way Karun kept soft hands while playing at deliveries outside the off stump. His habit of hanging the bat outside the off stump had brought about his downfall multiple times in the series but not on Day 1 of the series-finale.
“This could have been his last chance, but he has capitalised. The pitch was doing a lot, but Karun Nair is standing tall. What stood out was Karun Nair’s purposeful attempt to have soft hands to deliveries outside off stump,” Aaron said on JioHostar after the day’s play.
