Earlier this month, Ajit Agarkar, the chief of selectors for the BCCI, virtually ended Karun Nair's Test career by stating that the seasoned batter did not live up to the team management's expectations during the England tour. Nair isn't giving up, though. In addition to responding to Agarkar's remarks, he made a commitment to continue scoring runs in domestic cricket in order to compel selectors to consider him for an Indian team berth.
Nair was added to the team for the tour of England following his outstanding performance in the Ranji Trophy 2024–2025 season and because India lacked experience in the top order after the abrupt Test retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. In the pre-series India A tour matches, he immediately validated the selection with a double century, but in the official five-match Test series, he was unable to replicate the same form. With just one fifty to his credit, he amassed 205 runs in four games.
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Later same month, Nair was left out of the Duleep Trophy, the Test series against the West Indies, and the India A series against Australia A. He was also excluded from the India A squad against South Africa A, indicating that the selectors do not want to rely on him in the future.
None, though, distracted Nair. After making a comeback to the Ranji Trophy for Karnataka, Nair scored 73 and 8 in the first round and then smashed an unbeaten 174 against Goa on Sunday. After the knock, Nair didn't mince any word in calling out the selection committee's stance on him. Expressing disappointment, Nair said that he deserved more than a single series.
“Obviously, it is quite disappointing. After the last two years I’ve had, I think I deserved a lot better. More than a series," he said. “There are certain individuals in the [Indian] team who have had good conversations with me about how they felt. That’s about it. It does get into the head. But the second thought would be to do your job, which is to score runs and let people have their opinions.
“Honestly, what target can I have next? All I want to do is to play for the country. If you’re not able to do that, the next thing would be to try and win games for the side you are playing for.”
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Reflecting on Nair's performance in England, Agarkar had stated that the management expected more from him and although they would prefer to give every player more opportunities, that isn't always feasible. "We expected more from him (in England). He played four Tests, and there was just one fifty. We would like to give 15-20 chances to everyone, but unfortunately it does not work that way,” the current chief selector had said.
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