Karun Nair’s ‘brain fade’ at Lord’s leaves experts baffled: ‘Don’t know what he was thinking’

Karun Nair's return to the Test team after an eight-year absence is not going as he would have hoped. The right-handed batter has not been able to light the stage on fire and his dismissal in the second innings of the Lord's Test match against England caused a lot of controversy.

Nair, 33, was looking fine at the crease until he suddenly chose to leave a straight delivery and was struck squarely on the pads off Brydon Carse's bowling. Without hesitation, the on-field umpire raised his finger.

Nair decided not to go for the review and headed back to the hut after scoring 14 runs off 33 balls. Speaking on Sky Sports, former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik was blunt in his assessment of the leave, calling it "ordinary" and stating that he had no idea what Nair was thinking. The incident unfolded on the third ball of the 13th over, when Nair misjudged a sharp nip-backer that jagged in and struck him on the knee as he inexplicably shouldered arms.

Carse is STEAMING in!

Nair departs! pic.twitter.com/IKrZHn7L0l

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 13, 2025

Nair's dismissal was a huge surprise. KL Rahul and Nair were playing on the merits of the ball and looked steady at the crease.

Speaking on air, Karthik said: “Karun Nair's going to limp off, what a breakthrough for England. Completely out of the blue, he was looking solid as always. The ball didn't do much, just came in straight. I don't know what he was thinking. Karun Nair expected the ball to probably swing away, but it didn't, just held its line, kept coming straight. Pretty ordinary leave, Brydon Carse loving it, it's an important wicket."

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Former England captain Michael Atherton agreed with the Indian when he said that Nair's "strange leave" was completely unexpected. “It's a very strange leave from Karun Nair. Particularly at the end he's batting, the end Carse is coming in from is the pavilion end, so you know naturally the ball is going to run back in at you, down the slope. So it's an odd leave,” said Atherton.

“To make matters worse, he'll have a big bruise there in the morning because it hit him on the inside of the pad, so he had to hobble off,” he added.

The 33-year-old returned to the Test team following impressive performances in domestic cricket. He batted at number six for India in the Headingley Test, but batted at No. 3 in the following two games at Edgbaston and Lord's. He has amassed 131 runs in his six innings in this series so far, with scores of 0, 20, 31, 26, 40, and 14.

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After play ended on Day 4, former India Test captain Anil Kumble spoke with JioStar and was quick to criticize Nair's "brain fade" moment. “India had a great chance; they did really well to restrict England to 192. Yashasvi Jaiswal played a poor shot. Once Karun Nair got out, and then Shubman Gill, it's slight advantage to England. It was a great opportunity for Karun; he did all the hard work. He did look good, I don't know, probably it was a brain fade,” said Kumble.

India finished Day 4 with a score of 58/4, still needing 135 more runs for victory. Rishabh Pant will join Rahul, who is undefeated at 33, on the last day of the third Test.