IND vs ENG: Will Karun Nair’s squandered starts open doors for Sai Sudharsan's return at Manchester?

Karun Nair’s scores in the series so far read 0, 20, 31, 26, 40 and 14 (AP Photo)

In a Test career that began in November 2016, Karun Nair has played just 13 innings across nine Tests. In the third of those, he smashed 303 not out off 381 balls against England at Chepauk. His next-highest score is 40, in the just-completed Lord’s Test. That should give you some idea of why there is so much debate around his place in the XI for the Manchester Test that India simply must win next week.

Karun’s scores in the series so far read 0, 20, 31, 26, 40 and 14. He has faced at least 33 balls in five of those innings, and not gone on to a big score. He has played some gorgeous strokes through the covers and down the ground, and also fallen to some strange dismissals – none more so than the costly one on the fourth evening at Lord’s.

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Despite Yashasvi Jaiswal’s daft dismissal, India were well in control of the chase at 41-1 with stumps less than half an hour away. That was when Karun bizarrely offered no shot to a Brydon Carse delivery that nipped back and thudded into his back leg. Given Carse’s reputation as someone who moves the ball back into the right-hand batters, the decision to shoulder arms was even more perplexing.

By close of play, India were 58-4, with England well on top. And as they completed a tense 22-run win on Monday, it was understandable that there was scrutiny of how India’s top order had subsided on the first lively pitch they’ve encountered this series.

With KL Rahul and Jaiswal – not to mention Shubman Gill, the skipper – having made big scores in the series, Karun is the one in the crosshairs. More so since he bats at No. 3, a slot usually reserved for the game’s greats. “I would like to see Sai Sudharsan at No. 3,” said Sanjay Manjrekar before the Lord’s Test. “Karun Nair is not a number-three player in my book.”

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Sudharsan is 23, a decade younger than Karun, and clearly one for the future. “It is unfair to drop him after one Test if everyone is getting big hundreds,” said Manjrekar. “I think Sai deserves that opportunity as well.”

Karun’s return to the India fold, on sheer weight of runs in domestic cricket, was rightly celebrated. But if the axe were to fall now, he could have few complaints. For a top-order bat, squandering a start is a deadly sin. And in Karun’s case, it seems a habit he can’t kick.