CHENNAI: Chasing 206 against Mumbai Indians on Sunday, Delhi Capitals lost the wicket of their opener Jake Fraser-McGurk off the first ball making Karun Nair walk in as an impact player. Despite playing his first IPL match since 2022, the 33-year-old right hand batter played a comeback knock smashing 89 off just 40 balls. The knock might not have helped his team win but it certainly breathed a new life into Nair's career.
The way he took down Jasprit Bumrah, one of the most dangerous bowlers of this era, was a treat to watch. He plundered 28 off just nine balls from the MI pacer that included three fours and two sixes. He completed his fifty in just 22 balls. The half-century had come seven years after he had slammed his previous half-century in the tournament.
Nair has been a prolific scorer in the domestic tournaments for the past couple of years and had even helped Vidarbha to Ranji title last month. The Ranji team's coach Usman Ghani has seen him from close quarters and was not surprised at all when Nair made a lightwork of Mumbai Indians' bowling attack led by Bumrah and Trent Boult.
"He always tells me that he is an aggressive player. I tell him to play his natural game irrespective of the format. The freedom we gave him made him play the way he did this season," Ghani told this daily.
The coach said Nair was waiting for an opportunity to prove a point to everyone and did exactly that. "He has been playing well in all formats. He wanted to prove a point or two to everybody. He always used to tell me that a lot of cricket is still left in him. He wants to make a comeback to the national side and is very determined to do that. His stint with the County team has also helped him and his fitness level has also improved a lot."
Karun, who has played six Tests and two ODIs for India so far, last featured in an international game on June 13, 2016 where he scored 39 against Zimbabwe in Harare. In six Tests, he has scored 374 runs including an unbeaten innings of 303. The coach credited his work ethics for the recent success. "He has a very good routine. He is very disciplined and focussed and knows what exactly he has to do to stay in contention. More than anything, he wants to make a comeback into the national fold and he is working in that direction only."
Speaking on Nair's fitness, Ghani said he is fitter than the previous year and that's why he has been scoring a plenty of runs in all formats. "The more fit you are, the more you will stay at the crease and score runs. That's my thoughts on fitness as a coach. You can see he is a lot fitter than last year. His performance was good last year and this year it is excellent in all the three formats. He can play all the formats."
The coach also said that Karun has his own routine and works on his game throughout the year. "That eagerness to return to the Indian team has been motivating him to do the hard yards. He does have his own routines. He used to prepare with throwdown specialists during the domestic tournaments. If you want to excel then you have to do things differently. Apart from routine training, you have to put in additional efforts. He too used work on his game apart from routine training with Vidarbha teammates. He used to practice shots at nets because you cannot go out there and start playing the shots. You need to practice it and perfect yourself before executing those shots."
As Nair finally got a chance, Ghani hoped the DC team management would stick with him for the rest of the tournament. "This is the first step towards redemption. The arch will be completed only when he makes it to the national squad irrespective of the format," signed off the coach.