MANCHESTER: The five-match Test series in England was supposed to be a platform for Karun Nair to announce his return to the format that he once took by storm with his unbeaten triple century only in his third match.
Back in the India Tests set up after a long hiatus of eight years, the 33-year-old batter has accumulated runs in heaps in domestic cricket during his time away from the national team, which eventually forced the selectors to include him in the squad. The below-par returns in six innings of three Tests, however, has brought his place in the playing XI under scanner with several former cricketers want him to be replaced by Tamil Nadu's promising left-hand batter B Sai Sudharsan, who played the opening Test along Nair scoring a duck and 30 in the two innings.
It's not that Nair, who played last two domestic seasons with Vidarbha before deciding to move back to Karnataka, was looking out of place in the ongoing rubber. Except for the first innings where a stunner from Ollie Pope at short extra cover ended his much-anticipated comeback after only four balls for a nought, Nair got the starts in every match but he couldn't convert them to leave an impact. He has scored 131 runs at an average of 21.83 so far in the series. What adds to Nair's woes is the fact that he is the only top four batter from either side not to score a half-century in the series. His lack of runs raised more eyebrows with the first two matches being played on a wicket conducive for batting.
Former India wicketkeeper-batter Deep Dasgupta advocated for Sai Sudharsan's return saying Nair didn't look comfortable at the crease. “In the Playing XI, you don’t want more than one change. If there is only one, it would be replacing Karun Nair with Sai Sudharsan. Because Karun Nair hasn’t made any runs. He’s got starts, but hasn’t converted them into big scores. I also believe he doesn’t look that comfortable at the crease either,” he told the official broadcaster.
Justifying his demand, Dasgupta said, “Sai Sudharsan is a young player. If you want to invest in this England series, you’d rather invest in a younger player. Karun Nair has got starts in both Test matches, but he hasn’t looked that convincing. So if you’re looking to build ahead, you might as well invest in someone like Sai Sudharsan. Because after this, I don’t know when you’ll come back to a series in England. So when you have two Tests left, invest in Sai Sudharsan.”
In saying that, Nair had not looked edgy or nervous so far. His last dismissal where he was trapped before the stumps by England pacer Brydon Carse offering no stroke, apparently has changed the narratives. With the series at stake and India clearly trying to move on after retirements from Test stalwarts like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin, persistence with Nair seemingly does not go along with the strategy of the team management to invest in youngsters.
Be it Leeds or Lord's, one big reason for India's defeats at these venues was loss of a few quick wickets, derailing the innings and bringing the opponents back in the game. Ryan ten Doeschate spoke on the problem ailing the team at the moment and said they want more runs from their No 3. "The repetition of losing lots of wickets in a very short space of time has obviously been the key feature of the two losses. Probably both times in Headingley and obviously overnight and first thing in the morning at Lord's. We feel it cost us the game, losing six wickets for 40 again. But if you look at it individually, if you look at the run tally of all the batters they're all batting nicely. Even someone like Karun, we feel his rhythm is good, his tempo is good. We want more runs from the three. But the message is mainly, let's really focus on what we've done well and tidy up the little things that have cost us results, essentially," he told journalists.
It was Washington Sundar, who replaced Sai Sudharsan in the playing XI after the first match. With the change in the squad, Nair was promoted to No 3 from No 6. However, time now seems to be running out for Nair with a young but promising Sai Sudharsan waiting in wings.