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Reveling under pressure the Karun way

Last Updated 18 December 2017, 18:32 IST

Karun Nair did a bow-and-arrow celebration –  a style  made famous by Spanish striker Alvaro Morata -- after reaching his 13th  first class ton here.  It was a special knock from the Karnataka batsman  in a game as big as the semifinal against Vidarbha. Karun will resume  his innings on Tuesday from 148 -- a special day for the youngster.

On December 19 last year, Karun made the cricketing world take notice of him with a superb 303 not out against England in the fifth Test in Chennai.  "It's just the date and I had it in the back of my mind. Actually it's tomorrow (December 19) and I had it in the back of mind. But nothing more and I am happy that I was able to contribute to the team," he said.

Inconsistency marred Karun's progress following the feat and he fell off the national selectors' radar. Since then, it has been a roller coaster journey for the 25-year-old. Following decent performances in Duleep Trophy and for India 'A' teams, Karun has scripted a good Ranji season.

Three centuries and a half-century has seen him rack up 577 runs in eight games.  He asserted he never keeps any targets ahead of the season. "It is about consistently contributing to the team. I don't keep goals."

Karun is not new to crises situations. Revelling under pressure comes naturally to him and the art was once again on exhibition on Monday. His match-winning triple century against Tamil Nadu in the 2014-15 Ranji final is a case in point. "The pressure situations bring the best out me and it makes me concentrate harder. At the earlier stages of my innings, it was important for me to think of the team and not about personal milestones. During such scenarios you can only think of the team and that aspect kind of keeps me going," he offered.

Despite Vidarbha's fightback in the second session, where they bagged four quick wickets, Karun hung on to forge a crucial partnership with skipper R Vinay Kumar. "It was a good partnership and I think he (Vinay) batted with real discipline. I had told him that it is difficult to drive on this wicket and asked him to defend the good balls. That's how I batted.

"I never tried to play shots on the rise and waited for them to bowl short balls. He is batting really well," he said.  

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(Published 18 December 2017, 17:58 IST)

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