Time running out for Nair?

Manchester: When Karun Nair was picked, first for the India A’s tour of England and then for the main team for the ensuing five-match Test series, the overwhelming reaction from the cricketing community was ‘well deserved’.

Left without a team at the end of 2022 following a horrendous run of form, Nair’s resurrection from the abyss was one of the comeback stories of Indian sports in recent times. 

And when he cracked a brilliant 204 in India A’s four-day game versus England Lions at Canterbury, it looked like the 33-year-old was perfectly on course for a strong stint with the senior team in his second coming. But after three matches and six innings in the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, Nair’s failure to grab the opportunities could really jeopardise his hopes of playing the remaining two games of the series unless the management offers an extra rope in Manchester where the fourth Test kicks off on July 23.

Nair’s return to Test cricket after eight years at Headingley in the series opener ended in a whim after he was out for a four-ball duck. It was pure bad luck as Nair, who was cooling his heels for a long time in the dressing as Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant went about slaying the English attack, played a scorching cover drive but Ollie Pope pulled off a sensational catch at short extra cover that left the batter in utter shock. Nair then appeared to make amends in the second innings with his 54-ball 20 but just when he was looking good to convert that into something substantial, he got out by playing a false shot against the run of play.

In fact, that has been the pattern for Nair in the second and third Tests, where he was promoted to No. 3 as India dropped Sai Sudharsan and opted to play Washington Sundar as the extra spinner-cum-batter. In Birmingham and Lord’s, Nair did the first part of the job as required. He seemed to have learnt his lessons from Headingley, relied heavily on his defence at the start of his innings, took his time to study the conditions and bowling, and looked really impressive during his stay in the middle. He was timing the ball well, the tempo to his innings was rhythmic and looked in no discomfort whatsoever. He even played the balls close to his body, the positing of his elbows almost similar to KL Rahul.

He looked really good until losing his wicket inexplicably. The most annoying bit for any batter is when he/her fritters away starts.

On a placid Birmingham pitch, he got out for a 50-ball 31 and 46-ball 26, while at a sluggish Lord’s, he scored a 62-ball 40 and 33-ball 14. Those two matches were great chances for Nair, batting at the important No. 3 slot, to go on and make a big score and cement his place in the team. All the top-order batters have been in impressive form this series, with skipper Gill leading from the front with 607 runs (3 centuries), followed by Rishabh Pant (425), Rahul (375), and Yashasvi Jaiswal (233) — and all of them have scored centuries too. Nair, on the other hand, has just aggregated 131. The sad part is Nair hasn’t looked in much discomfort, but a lapse in concentration after getting set has brought about his downfall.

It’s because of that belief that Nair earned a promotion to No. 3. But things could get a little complicated in Manchester if Pant doesn’t recover from his left index finger injury. Since the think-tank is keen on playing him at least as a specialist batter, Dhruv Jurel will be drafted in as the keeper-batter, which means Nair could get the axe.

If Pant is fit enough to keep, then Nair could be handed one more opportunity. If so, he really needs to make it count before Sudharsan is handed the stage. It was in England during the 2018 tour where Nair’s career started to spiral out of control after Hanuma Vihari was drafted in from nowhere mid-series and handed a cap.

Such drastic steps may not happen now, but Nair will be hoping England doesn’t end up causing another heartbreak for him.