Karun Nair celebrated his appointment as India 'A' skipper for the upcoming series against New Zealand 'A' with a ton against India Red in the Duleep Trophy match yesterday
Karun Nair hit a valiant 120 in India Green's defeat yesterday
Karun Nair hit a valiant 120 in India Green's defeat yesterday
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Karun Nair celebrated his appointment as India 'A' skipper for the upcoming series against New Zealand 'A' with a ton against India Red in the Duleep Trophy match yesterday.
The innings may have done a world of good for him personally, but he could not prevent his team, India Green, from crashing to a 170-run defeat.
Nair's career in limbo
Nair's international career has been in limbo despite scoring a triple century against England in the Chennai Test in December last year. The Karnataka batsman was made to sit out in the following Test to make way for Ajinkya Rahane against Bangladesh in the one-off match at Hyderabad.
Though Nair was later included in the Test series against Australia earlier this year, scores of 26 and 0 at Bangalore, 23 at Ranchi and five at Dharamsala, sent his career into a downward spiral. It was indeed a sad tiding for him after he had become only the second Indian batsman to score a triple century in Tests after Virender Sehwag, as there was no worthwhile contribution in the other five Test matches that he played.
When there was a bit of hullabaloo over excluding Nair after his triple ton when Rahane had recovered, skipper Virat Kohli had defended the decision. "Karun was stepping into his shoes and what he did was remarkable, but you can't overlook two years of hard work from Ajinkya.
He deserved to walk back into the team whenever he got fit," he had said. With Indian batsmen doing exceedingly well in all formats in recent times, there is hardly any vacancy for a batsman of Nair's calibre to get a look-in, barring of course, an injury or two.
Still in reckoning
In such circumstances, Nair's appointment as India 'A' skipper bodes well for him as it keeps him in the reckoning should an unexpected call come his way, as it had happened when he had replaced Rahane and gone on to score that famous unbeaten 303.
Brief scores
India Red 323 & 307-2 decl bt India Green 157 & 303 (K Nair 120; K Sharma 6-94, S Kaul 4-46) by 170 runs
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