Selfie requests soar as Karun Nair back in public attention but remains focussed on his goal to keep scoring runs

Right at the end of three-hour net session on Wednesday where he had the answers to all the balls hurled at him, Karun Nair was flummoxed a request. A young net bowler wanted “any” piece of his fresh gear to hold for posterity. “If it was only at the end of the season, what can I do now?” Nair shrugged.
Not just that net bowler but a flock of cricketers who had checked in for the state police team selections in the ground adjacent to the practice venue greeted Karun Nair with selfie requests and a thick huddle on his way out. With the Champions Trophy less than a month away and a grinding Test season behind them, it is unclear how much a red-ball league appearance here can help struggling seniors, including captain Rohit Sharma, revive their red-ball status before the next Test assignment in England in June.
For Karun Nair though, the second phase of the Ranji Trophy beginning Thursday, is as vital for him as anybody. It is a window of opportunity back to the cheerful times with the national side. He was stranded playing only a handful of games in 2022-23, without the crest of a First-Class team to his name.
A mind-boggling Vijay Hazare Trophy season with Vidarbha, rewriting records and manoeuvring the white ball to his wont for 779 runs in eight outings at an astonishing 389.50 average has done wonders.
“It would have been so much better for me if the team had gone on to win the championship,” admits Karun Nair, after Vidarbha fumbled at the final hurdle against his former side Karnataka last week.
Nevertheless, the cricketing circles in the country have gotten back chatting about their last Test triple-centurion. Karun Nair realises he has another shot at winning it all back before another England tour, seven years after the door had shut on him when Hanuma Vihari was slotted in for a debut at the Oval at his expense.
“Nothing changes for me (switching from VHT to Ranji). I have been as focused as ever throughout the last 12 to 16 months. I am only trying to continue the same process and things that I have been doing. Contributing to the team, winning games for the team and that’s about it,” Karun Nair told The Indian Express after Vidarbha’s practice session ahead of the clash against Rajasthan in Jaipur.
With Vidarbha comfortably perched atop the Group B standings with 28 points from five games, Karun Nair will resume the red-ball season with 289 runs and a century to his tally from six innings.
Karun Nair, who last played a Test during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2017, has credited the backing from Vidarbha for his revival. Batting at his preferred slot at No. 3, Karun Nair amassed nearly 25 per cent of his entire L A career runs within four weeks in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy.
“The amount of runs you said shows the amount of backing I have got here in Vidarbha. That also shows the lack of batting I had in Karnataka and the positions I was batting at that point. So I would credit that to the backing that I have got here to bat at number 3 and the time that I have been able to spend,” he says.
Karun Nair’s day at the RCA Academy outside the Sawai Mansingh Stadium ground was dinct from his teammates with three separate hits in the nets across three hours. Affirming that he made negligible tweaks to his original technique, Nair negotiated throwdowns and the net bowlers with characteric restraint, keen on ‘feeling’ the ball as much as possible and minimising drives.
The training session also had him flip through his kit for multiple bat changes, but Karun Nair remained focused on firming up his defence while back in on the strip.
“I generally love to bat through an entire tournament with one bat. But while travelling during the Vijay Hazare, my primary bat broke just before the quarterfinals. I went into the knockouts straightaway with a fresh bat without even setting it,” he says. Now, much rests on his bat: Vidarbha’s Ranji fortunes and his own India dreams.

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