Delhi Capitals' Karun Nair plays a shot during an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 T20 cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, in New Delhi, Sunday, April 13, 2025.
Credit: PTI Photo
Bengaluru: Karun Nair had a reputation when he still had some of the cherubic-ness left in him.
He was in his early 20s and making a name for himself as a batter Karnataka could not just rely on but win games because of. His team-mates always spoke of how he, more than anyone else on that illustrious roster, could build on momentum. They knew one decent score meant a big one wasn’t far away.
Karun knew too, and that level of confidence can only mean runs. Runs which would eventually make him the mainstay for Karnataka in their double-treble seasons. Runs which would eventually fetch him the Indian jersey in Tests and One-Day Internationals. Runs which would earn him big bucks in the Indian Premier League.
Nothing could go wrong for only the second Test triple-centurion in Indian Test history.
And then, nothing went right.
He was dropped from the Indian team. He was dropped from the Karnataka side. He was ignored by IPL franchises.
Forget about his reputation of getting runs in clusters, Karun, at this stage in his life, must have forgotten how the ball sounds off the middle of the bat, how it feels to win, what validation inspires, or how confidence tastes….
Karun was but a montage of disjointed memories. He couldn’t make sense of what was going on, and so he publicly pleaded with cricket to give him a chance in 2022.
Cricket, being as fair as most deities could only hope to be, offered him a gentle second wind. Little did anyone believe then that Karun would become a storm.
On Sunday night, Karun hammered 80 runs from 40 balls for the Delhi Capitals against the Mumbai Indians. The innings came at a losing cause, but Karun had won back some of what was lost: pride.
He made no movie-inspired gesture like fellow Bengalurean KL Rahul did a few days ago at M Chinnaswamy stadium or put up a post on social media telling the naysayers off. He was agitated that he couldn’t win the game. He played down the knock at the press conference.
Time it seems has taught Karun one thing if nothing else: humility.
Karun had a decent opening season after moving to Vidarbha in 2023-24, but the 2024-25 season was when it all suddenly came together.
He piled on 779 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy at an average of 389.50. He put up 863 runs in the Ranji Trophy, leading Vidarbha to the title. He scored 255 runs at a strike rate of over 170 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Back in Karnataka, he compiled 560 runs from 12 innings for the Mysuru Warriors in the Maharaja Trophy.
This meant the Delhi Capitals would take a chance with him, picking him up at the auction for Rs 50 lakh. Ignored for the first four games, the odds of the Capitals giving him a chance was growing slim.
But, the management reckoned him as an Impact Player and so he was inserted in place of Mukesh Kumar, and he was going to bat at No.3 against Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult and everything else Mumbai Indians’ bowling cavalry had as they looked to defend 205.
Strangely, Karun wasn’t fazed playing his first IPL game in nearly three years. Strangely, Karun came up with his first half-century in the league in nearly seven years. Strangely, Karun had taken on Bumrah and won.
Bumrah gave away 26 runs to Karun off of nine deliveries. Bumrah was also struck for two sixes in an over for the first time since Faf du Plessis did it to him in 2021. Karun played Bumrah better than anyone has in recent memory, and that is telling.
See, cricket has been kind to Karun in offering him the chance he pleaded for. Now, to see if the world gives the 33-year-old the chance to do what he was always destined to do.