Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar said that Karun Nair’s failure to take advantage of his second chance in international cricket was unfortunate. Nair scored 0 and 20 in the first Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy while batting at No. 6. He was then promoted to No. 3 to replace Sai Sudharsan, but managed only 31, 26, 40, and 14 in the next two Tests.
Manjrekar referenced to Nair’s popular tweet ‘give me one more chance’ from December 2022, noting that the batter failed to capitalise despite being given opportunities during the England tour. As a result, the top-order batsman was dropped before of the fourth Test at Old Trafford in Manchester, and Sudharsan was recalled to the playing XI.
“It was an emotional story in which he said, ‘Cricket, give me another opportunity’. Cricket offered him another chance. Unfortunately, he couldn’t capture it. And, you know, Sai Sudarshan is coming back. So, that was the story. “It’s good to see Sai Sudarshan back, because I thought he should have played the second test as well,” Manjrekar stated on television during the fourth Test.
Unfortunately, Karun hasn’t scored big runs: Shubman Gill
The cricketer-turned-commentator pointed out that the game did not click for Nair, even though there is nothing wrong with his batting in the series.Earlier, it had looked like the 33-year-old would be retained in the XI, as Indian captain Shubman Gill defended the poor outings of Nair during the pre-match press conference.
“We think Karun is batting well. In the first match, he didn’t really play at his number (batted at 6). It’s difficult when a player is making a comeback in a series like this. But I don’t think there’s been any issue with his batting. Sometimes it’s also about getting that click. Once you’re able to make your 50, then you’re able to get back into your zone and get some big runs. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened for him so far,” Gill had said during the pre-match press conference.
Karnataka welcomes Karun Nair back
The Jodhpur-born is set to return to his home Karnataka for the next domestic season after a three-year gap. He represented Vidarbha and played a major role in their victory run in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 season, scoring 863 runs at an average of 53. Now, he has been granted a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Vidarbha Cricket Association to represent Karnataka in the upcoming season.
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