India starts their 2025-27 World Test Championship with a five-Test series against England on June 20 at Headingley. One of the big talking points going into the series is Karun Nair’s return to the Test team after a gap of 8 years. At 33, he’s finally getting to wear the India whites again and that’s a dream come true for him.
Nair is one of the rare members of India’s elite triple-centurion club in Test cricket and his journey back to the national team has been a rollercoaster. In a recent chat with Mail Sport, he spoke about how tough it was when he was dropped from the Karnataka team and how many people had written him off. He even shared how just two years ago, a well-known figure in Indian cricket told him to retire and focus on making money in T20 leagues.
“I remember an Indian cricketer telling me to retire because I’d be better off financially in the leagues. It would have been an easy option, but I never wanted to give up on playing for India,” Nair said.
He refused to quit and made a bold move in 2023 by switching from Karnataka to Vidarbha which turned out to be a game-changer for him. Over the last two domestic seasons, he scored over 1500 runs for Vidarbha including 863 runs at 53.93 in their recent Ranji Trophy winning campaign. He also had a solid time with Northamptonshire where he scored 736 runs at 56.61 across two seasons with a memorable double century against Glamorgan.
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Nair made a strong case for his selection by scoring a double century for India A against England Lions just a few days ago. With Virat Kohli retiring from Test cricket and the Indian middle-order needing some stability, Nair’s comeback seems well-timed and hopefully it’ll be a fairytale return for him against England.
