CHENNAI: In an intriguing turn of events, senior batter Karun Nair, who left the South Zone team on Day 1 of the Duleep Trophy final due to "personal reasons", has appeared for KSCA Secretary XI 24 hours later and scored a century for his team in a red-ball pre-season preparatory tournament conducted by Karnataka State Cricket Association.
Nair, who was not picked for the South Zone XI in the semifinal against North Zone, was once again left out of the final against East at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The veteran batter from Karnataka left the city and returned home on Day 1 of the Duleep Trophy final. Less than 24 hours later, Nair turned up for KSCA Secretary XI against Chhattisgarh in the Dr (Capt) K Thimmappaiah Memorial Tournament 2026. The 34-year-old went on to score a 184-ball 104 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, taking his team to 277/7.
About 350km away, after East Zone piled on South Zone’s misery, posting 708 runs, head coach MN Vikram Verma said that Nair left the squad because of personal family reasons. “He emailed us, took permission due to personal family reasons,” Verma said on Monday.
If a player leaves the team due to "family reasons", will he or she go on to play in a local red-ball tournament less than 24 hours after? It makes one wonder whether there is more to it than meets the eye. Nair's reaction on social media indicates as much. Reacting to a post on X that called his omission inexplicable, Nair posted: "Inexplicable would be an understatement."
Meanwhile, the South Zone head coach said that Nair - who has played 129 first-class matches - could not feature in the XI due to the combination the North Zone played in the semifinal. In the summit clash, the addition of Devdutt Padikkal meant Nair had to miss out again. “Actually, we went with a good combination because every team has two left-hand spinners. We thought a left-hand batter in the middle order would give him a chance to dominate them. Again, we thought about what is best for the team. In the first match, we gave a youngster, K Himateja, a chance. Now, since Padikkal has come back again, the team combination was changed. So it is very difficult to miss him out, but that's the combination we have,” he added.
Nair, with ten Test caps, has scored a triple century for India against England in 2016 at the same venue where South Zone are currently facing an uphill task of surpassing the 708 posted by East Zone. The next 24 hours will tell more about how much South Zone missed the services of the 34-year-old with a wealth of experience, as they have a steep mountain to climb in what is likely to be a contest decided by the first-innings lead.
