Former India batter Mohammad Kaif has said that Karun Nair should have been added to the squad for the two-match Test series against West Indies, starting Thursday, October 2, in Ahmedabad. He made his return to the national team in the 2025 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy for the first time since 2017 as well.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Kaif said: “Look, I feel I have a bit of a soft corner for him because in that last Test match, it was a really tough pitch and a high-pressure game. If you look at India’s first innings score, his 50 runs were the highest. The next best was around 30. India had scored close to 200 in that innings, and out of that, 50 were from Karun Nair. We veventually won that Test by just six runs. In such a close game, where the margin was only six runs, Karun’s 50 in the first innings was very important.”

“And throughout that series, he was consistently scoring 30-40 runs. But at the same time, Shubman Gill was hitting double centuries, scoring hundreds, breaking records one after another. So, those 30-40 runs didn’t get much value or attention. On that England tour, a 30-40 didn’t seem significant. That’s why his crucial 30-40 runs didn’t get talked about much. But I felt in that difficult match to bat on, when we were under pressure and trailing 2-1 in the series, his contribution was vital. That’s why I think maybe he should have been given one or two more series,” he further added.

Apart from Karun Nair, Abhimanyu Easwaran is another player who was part of the England tour squad but failed to make it to the West Indies series as well.

“I mean, he stays in the Test squad. He becomes the 12th man, goes out to field, but doesn’t get a chance in the playing XI. So, I personally feel that when domestic players perform so well and then finally get their names in the Test squad, the example being set here isn’t right,” he said.

“On one hand, you say that performances in the Ranji Trophy and domestic tournaments matter, that you consider them seriously while picking the Test team, that selections for the XI are based on those performances. Karun’s comeback itself happened because of this because he scored heavily in domestic cricket,” he added.