Veteran India batter Karun Nair, who is making his returning to the red-ball team after a long wait of almost eight years, is excited to make the most of the opportunity in the upcoming five-match Test series against England which is starting on June 20 as well. However, Nair has been in sublime form and hit a double ton against the England Lions in the first unofficial Test at Canterbury as well. In the recently concluded IPL 2025 season, he played eight games for Delhi Capitals and amassed 198 runs, including a fifty too.
“Feels really special, very grateful and very fortunate to be able to get this opportunity again and really looking forward and excited to grab this opportunity with both hands,” Nair said in a video posted by BCCI on social media. “Not sure actually, I’ve to experience that feeling myself and just go out there and feel it for myself. I’m sure there will be a lot of feelings, ones that I can’t express right now and it will be a special feeling.”
However, in the pre-training huddle, head coach Gautam Gambhir applauded Karun Nair’s comeback to the Test side after eight years.
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He said, “Comebacks are never easy. Someone who has made a comeback after seven [eight] years had a phenomenal last year. Last year, no matter the runs you have got and most importantly, that never-die attitude, never-giving-up attitude, that is something which has got you back into the team. That is something which is inspiring for this entire world. Welcome, Karun.”
With the Test retirements of stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, it is expected that Karun Nair will get a chance in the middle order because of his County experience with Northamptonshire, where he smashed 487 runs in seven games at an average of 48.70, including a double century as well.
Meanwhile, Karun Nair’s former Karnataka teammate and experienced batter KL Rahul was happy with the return of his friend as well.
“I’ve known him for a very long time and the months that he spent here in the UK playing cricket and how hard and how lonely it was. For him, to be able to do all of that and comeback to the Indian team is special for him, his family and friends like us who’ve seen his journey. So, like I said, very inspiring as well, and hopefully, his experience and learnings from playing county cricket here will hold him in good stead when he plays the Test matches here,” Rahul said in the video.
India’s Test squad for England series:
Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.
