Karun Nair from Vidarbha has disclosed that after saying farewell to his home side, Karnataka, he had offered himself for playing for Kerala for state cricket, but the bids eventually could not be pursued. The international batter revealed he was not in a position to wait, and as Vidarbha came with an offer, he decided to go ahead.
Nair is born in Rajasthan while his father Kaladharan Nair and mother Prema Nair hail from Kerala. The family moved to Bengaluru for Kaladharan’s job and has stayed there since. Nair started as a Karnataka cricketer and spent nearly a decade with the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). Following August 2023, after being dropped across formats from the state team, he had made up his mind to move, and he found a new home in Vidarbha.
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“There were discussions about it. I was considering my options when I was sure I was going to leave Karnataka. There was some talk about it, but it didn’t move forward. I had offered myself to KCA, but it didn’t go forward. At the same time, I got the offer from Vidarbha,” he mentioned in an interview with the Malayalam Channel 24. “I wasn’t in a situation to wait, as I wasn’t in a good position. I wanted to clear my mind, and that was only possible by joining a team. So I joined Vidarbha,” he added.
The ongoing 2025 Ranji Trophy final between Kerala and Vidarbha is being played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur. Nair scored 86 (188) in the first innings and missed the century owing to being run out.
Vidarbha ended their first innings declared with 379. Kerala, in reply, nearly reached their target of 400 with captain Sachin Baby top-scoring with 98 runs before being dismissed with the score at 324/7.
Nair helped Vidarbha perform consistently across formats. They were runners-up in the Vijay Hazare Trophy before the Ranji Trophy, which they finished second to another team with a Nair connection- Karnataka.
The right-handed middle-order batter also did not say he wouldn’t settle down in Kerala one day.
“You never know. If such an opportunity arises, we would see,” he said.
