“I couldn’t understand what was happening” - Karun Nair on being dropped from Indian Test team in 2018

Karun Nair, who made his comeback to the Indian Test squad for the England tour, has stated that the time when he got dropped from the Karnataka Ranji side in 2022 was the darkest phase of his career.

Notably, Nair, who smacked a triple century against England in 2016, was dropped a few Tests later in 2018 after he had put up a series of low scores. While he was part of the squad for the England tour in 2018, he warmed the bench in all five Tests as Hanuma Vihari took his spot later after he was axed.

“In terms of incidents, I would say, it was quite a dark place at the end of 2022. Very emotional phase for me. I think it was the toughest time for me. Even tougher than 2018, or whatever, whenever that was,” Nair said during an interaction with Ravi Ashwin on his YouTube channel.

Furthermore, Nair asserted that he couldn’t convert the couple of starts he got against Australia in 2017, which resulted in his axing from the Indian Test squad a few months later. The middle-order batter reckoned that he couldn’t understand what happened after he was excluded from the national team.

“Honestly, I couldn’t understand what was happening. Because after the 300 in Chennai, after the Australia series, I think the next series was in Sri Lanka in 2017. I wasn’t part of that squad either. And from then on, I couldn’t understand what was happening. Then I had to go back in domestic cricket. But if I look back and think that there is one side of me saying that ‘yes, I didn’t get too many opportunities’. But the other way I would also think is the four innings that I played against Australia, and I got a couple of starts. If I had just converted those starts into bigger scores, maybe I wouldn’t be in this position or had to have gone through that,” Karun said. 

Ahead of the 2023-24 domestic season, Nair moved to Vidarbha and achieved good form, scoring runs across formats. He went on to score 863 runs from Vidarbha's Ranji Trophy title-winning campaign in the 2024-25 season, which played a crucial role in him getting back to the Test squad.

“I think at the moment, at least I am very grateful. Like you said, I have gotten past that complaining stage. Very grateful to be in the situation that I am and I just treat every day as something that’s given to me, and I am living my life and doing what I love,” Karun added.

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