Not Looking Ahead: Karun Nair Focuses on Immediate Career Relaunch

Having tackled challenges of various nature, Karun Nair is on a tough career-rebuilding process but the India batter does not want to look too far ahead as he feels it can make him stuck at one place.

It has been seven years since Karun has played a match for India but he has shown a bit of old fire in the last year or so, garnering runs for Vidarbha and for Northamptonshire in English county cricket.

“You have to be prepared for the grind. It’s just about the next game. And I’m not looking too far into the future because sometimes you can get stuck in thinking about what’s going to happen,” Karun told PTI here on Wednesday.

“I’ve had scored a lot of runs in the last one year in all formats. I’ve just been trying to continue doing what I’ve been doing the last one year on every given opportunity…taking every opportunity as a new day,” he added.

Karun’s career began to take a turn for the better in early 2023 when he played for Northamptonshire. In three games, he amassed 249 runs at an average of 83, including a century against eventual champions Surrey.

Karun scored a century against Glamorgan and amassed 487 runs at an average of 49 from seven games this year.

While hardly astounding figures, these are sufficient to give a batter who was lacking direction in his craft a great deal of confidence.

“You are playing with a different ball there – literally. Everyone knows for Indian batsmen to go and score runs in England…to play the moving ball is tough. So, I’ve learnt a lot more about myself as a batsman and finding ways to score runs and believing in yourself.

“There are so many things that I’ve learnt in England that, you know, maybe I had it in me but I didn’t realise all this while,” he noted.

During the most recent domestic season, he moved from Karnataka to Vidarbha, and it was the perfect move for him.

After relocating to Vidarbha, the right-hander’s frustration—not getting enough games in his own state—was resolved.

With two hundreds and 690 runs from ten games, he helped his team qualify for the Ranji Trophy semifinals.

“First and foremost, it’s the chance to participate in the Ranji Trophy cricket, which I was unable to participate in for an unknown cause a year ago. I am therefore really appreciative to Vidarbha for providing me with the chance to play first-class cricket.

Therefore, the goal is to surpass last year’s performance and go even farther. And let’s hope we can take home a few trophies, he added.

The 32-year-old was naturally sad to miss out on a first-class match for the entire season, but he also managed to find a silver lining.

It’s evident that I’ve been having a rough time. However, I think that one season taught me to appreciate every game and to work harder and more intelligently in whatever I did. He stated, “I believe that the non-playing season has strengthened and increased my determination to perform well in every game.

“No matter what happens, it’s kind of made me, I don’t know, brought some kind of fire in yourself. So, just like I said, I’m happy with the way I’m batting. I want to keep continuing this way.”

But the last year has also rekindled Karun’s dream of walking back into the Indian dressing room.

Indeed, without a doubt. My sole goal at this point is to play Test cricket again, which I believe I can do with great confidence. Everyone plays this game to represent their country. “I’m confident in my abilities,” he declared.

However, Karun would hope to end the successful start to a new season with a championship win over the Mysore Warriors in the upcoming KSCA Maharaja T20.

“We’ve accomplished our goal of making it to the semifinals, which was our original goal when we began the competition,” he said.

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