CHENNAI: Nearly a year ago, Karun Nair was advised not to touch his kit bag for a month. The advice might have been completely unexpected, particularly when Karun didn’t have a great season with the bat for his state side Karnataka.
But the only thing here was the advice came from none other than Rahul Dravid, who was coach of the India A side that Karun had been part of for two years. Graduation to the India Test side was still months away.
There is no need to guess what Karun did. He precisely followed what his mentor said and only a couple of days before the Irani Cup (2016) did he touch the bat. He finished the match with two 90-plus scores and though he didn’t make a century, it pushed him up the pecking order. And soon the much awaited call-up to the India Test side arrived.
For someone who converted his maiden Test ton into a triple-century, Karun is very much a reserved person. So reserved that even his parents, when he was making headlines with the bat, asked him why his interviews don’t appear in newspapers. His reply was simple, “I’m just playing cricket only because I love it. No big deal,” is how he put it then.
Scoring a monumental 303 despite being some distance away from completely settling in the side speaks volumes about Karun’s control over emotions. “I’m a bit reserved when it comes to opening up to new guys. I take my own time to mingle with the crowd, but there are a few in the team who made me feel comfortable. I’m getting closer every time I spend time with them,” Karun told Express.
Of course, there is one other incident that helped Karun look at life in a different way. That Karun survived a boat accident in Kerala last year is very well known. Though a few people managed to get him safely back to the shore, he lost one of his relatives in the accident, something that shook him a bit. His parents revealed they have completely stopped talking about the incident as it doesn’t help their son. Karun has been hesitant in the past to speak about it, but as they say, time heals the wounds.
“For me it was a life-changing experience. I had to go to Australia immediately with the India A team. It was hard for a couple of months. I kept getting those thoughts because it is not a good thing to happen to anyone. It made me a strong person mentally and made me believe in destiny. God has given me a life and I made a pact that I would enjoy every bit of it and not think about the past,” he said.
It is perhaps these things that have made Karun calmer in the middle. Even when he crossed the three-figure mark for the first time in Chennai, he didn’t overdo his celebrations. Had someone from Mars arrived and seen Karun raise his bat to his teammates in the pavilion, they would have thought it was for a fifty. It is no surprise that the only place he let out his emotion after scoring 303 was in the wash room.
“I don’t show lot of emotions. There will be ups and downs and you need to adapt. I’m the same person when I score and when I don’t score, nothing changes for me. When I score runs, I try and think of the bad games I had and it helps me focus more. Of course, emotions will be there inside and it will differ from time to time, but I don’t like to show it.”
For all you know, he might be the first cricketer ever to get dropped immediately after scoring a triple-century. But for a man who believes in destiny, what has to happen will happen, and the life will go on as usual.
Matches today
Andhra v Kerala; Goa v Hyderabad; Karnataka v Tamil Nadu.
venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com