An extraordi‘nair’ run

Bengaluru: Karun Nair isn’t sure if he has been fair to his family over the last six to seven years. He feels so because he has ‘had to be selfish’ during his single-minded journey to rediscover his relevance as a cricketer.

His pursuit has yielded, a door is slightly ajar, and so now he hopes to be fairer towards his family. All because he now - a marriage and two kids later - knows how to balance life at home and life at the crease. But, what he once perceived as a slight and now as a blessing, is still somewhere at the back of his mind, pushing him to do things, record-breaking things. 

Between December 23, 2024 and January 14, 2025, Karun scored 664 runs from six innings in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy. Impressive as that is, Karun’s average - by virtue of five unbeaten innings - stands at a scarcely-believable 664.

His former Karnataka team-mate and friend Mayank Agarwal is having himself quite the purple run himself with 619 runs from eight games at second on the ‘highest run-getters’ list, but his average, though exceptional at 123.80, looks rather middling compared to what Karun has up. 

Moreover, Karun is guaranteed one game (semifinal against Maharashtra on Jan 16), and should Vidarbha qualify for the final, he will have another chance to extend this run of form. Should Karnataka, who face Haryana on January 15, make the final, that will give Karun a chance to give his former team a glimpse of what they claimed he didn’t have it any more when he was let go in 2022. 

“Honestly, I don’t know if I went through such a big slump,” he tells DH. “I don’t think I fared that badly. As I see it, my worst season was in 2019, and then Covid-19 happened so we didn’t play for two seasons. My runs had dried up but I was also batting lower down the order in white-ball cricket so I didn’t get many chances. Anyway, that’s all in the past now…”

While he reiterates his lack of emotional charge towards those dark days, you can get a sense that he isn’t fully over them. When asked pointedly, he admits that he hasn’t dealt with all of it just yet. 

“I just couldn’t believe I was not part of the team (Karnataka). I should be the first name on the list, and suddenly I wasn’t there. It never crossed my mind that I wouldn’t be playing for Karnataka. Even now, when I look at the Karnataka team, I feel like my name should be the first one there,” he says. 

“I went back to the gym and training as if nothing had happened because I didn’t know what else to do. I had questions but no one was giving me the answers. I didn’t know what to do, where to go, how to feel… and that’s when I put out that Tweet (a prayer to Cricket, asking it to give him another chance). I don’t use social media but that day, I just felt it.”

While Karun was learning how to tackle his emotions and his time away from cricket, he was learning how to be a father, and that can’t be the easiest of things when you’re technically unemployed. 

“(Laughs) I think I am still navigating that space. It’s wonderful to have a growing family, but I am learning on the job, and it’s not easy. Honestly, when you don’t have kids, you don’t value a lot of things in life,” he says. “This has been a very humbling experience for me. Naturally, in all this, one part of you is thinking about how to revive a career and the other is constantly thinking about how best to raise a family. That’s often confusing but you have to draw boundaries.”

Karun did eventually learn how. He was now more present for his family, and he hit the ‘nets’ with more ferocity. “I didn’t (work) on my technique at all. I only had to spend time hitting balls to get the flow. I need to play normal cricket without complicating it or getting ahead of myself. It’s also just as important to not get complacent. You need to be in the moment.”

When asked if the Test triple-centurion reckoned a return to the Indian team was a possibility, he answered through the filter of the same lens. “I want to do what I am doing now for as long as I can. I still think I am far from a comeback. I want to believe it’s close but I know it’s not so I’ll put my head down and work. Nothing is in my hands, except maybe my ability to score runs.”

Highlights -

Vijay Madyalkar Karun's coach 

What we needed to do was increase volume to ensure his ball-hitting abilities would improve. We didn't need to change a thing about his technique. He faced 600 balls (100 overs) a day in around 2.5 hours every alternate day for six months. With Karun, we knew we could find his touch if we just increased his volume. Once he found that, he scored well in County cricket (for Northamptonshire) and the Karnataka Premier League (for Mysuru Warriors) and now for Vidarbha.  

Vijay Madyalkar: What we needed to do was increase volume to ensure his ball-hitting abilities would improve. We didn't need to change a thing about his technique. He faced 600 balls (100 overs) a day in around 2.5 hours every alternate day for six months. With Karun we knew we could find his touch if we just increased his volume. Once he found that he scored well in County cricket (for Northamptonshire) and the Karnataka Premier League (for Mysuru Warriors) and now for Vidarbha.  

Vijay Madyalkar: “What we needed to do was increase volume to ensure his ball-hitting abilities would improve. We didn’t need to change a thing about his technique. He faced 600 balls (100 overs) a day in around 2.5 hours every alternate day for six months. With Karun we knew we could find his touch if we just increased his volume. Once he found that he scored well in County cricket (for Northamptonshire) and the Karnataka Premier League (for Mysuru Warriors) and now for Vidarbha.