Follow UsOn December 10, 2022, Karun Nair tweeted, “Dear cricket, give me one more chance.” Between that date and June 19, 2025, a day before he finally made his Test comeback, the Karnataka man scored 2548 runs in First-Class cricket at an average of 52 with nine centuries and nine fifties to his name.
In List-A, he was even more brilliant, scoring 1009 runs in 15 innings at an unbelievable average of 144.14 with six centuries and two fifties.
It was therefore natural that he got a call to the national team set-up. Nair made his Test comeback on June 20, after a gap of nearly 8 years and three months, having last played for India on Mar 25, 2017.
However, Nair has been unable to live up to the expectations. In the six innings that he has played, Nair’s scores read 0, 20, 26, 31, 40 and 14. His average on India’s tour of England 2025 is 21.83, the worst amongst all top six batters in the side. He is also the only specialist top six batter across both sides in the series to not have passed the 50-run mark after having played at least two Tests.
The 34-year-old has wasted all the starts, getting out to Brydon Carse thrice, with his judgment of the line being poor on most occasions. The fact that Nair had partnerships of 17, 46, 80, 45, 61 and 36 in the six innings clearly suggests that the batting surfaces in all the three Tests were great. He got both the start and support from the other end which he needed, but the right-hander ended up squandering it.
The right-handed batter had a chance to show his caliber in the fourth innings of the Lord’s Test, but his manner of dismissal, shouldering arms while once again misjudging the line and length of the delivery, in a way felt like the final nail in the coffin of the 34-year-old's Test career.
Rishabh Pant’s injury means that Dhruv Jurel will most likely play in the Old Trafford Test and will get the number five position. Washington Sundar has done well with the ball, so removing him from the XI to give Nair one more game looks highly unlikely.
Traditionally, Old Trafford has been a great ground for spin in England. The spinner’s average in First-Class cricket at Manchester reads 35.6. Spinners have taken 2.5 wickets per innings since 2015 in Manchester, which is the best amongst all Test venues in England.
Therefore, India will most likely go with two spinners and wouldn’t want an extra batter in Nair.
Nair looks certain to exit the side if Pant does not recover fully to keep, but what if the left-hander's fingers heal before Old Trafford? Well, even then, after giving six innings to Nair, in which he underwhelmed and did not grab the opportunity, the team management might now ponder bringing back Sai Sudharsan, who played the first Test but was not part of the next two. There is a high chance Sudharsan, even if Pant is fit, might slot back in at number three and replace Nair.
Left-handed batters have been England’s problem this series with there being three centuries and seven fifties between Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jadeja. Having Sai at three could continue the left-right combo, and compound the task of taking 20 wickets for England.
In Nair’s defence, he batted at number six and three, the two positions where, before this series, he had batted only 10 and 21 times respectively. His favoured positions were number four (100 innings) and five (48 innings), but those were occupied by India’s captain Shubman Gill and vice captain Pant respectively.
But the Karnataka batter had to make a case for himself for the chances that he got. He ideally needed at least one big score to show the management that there's merit in persisting with him for the entirety of the series.
Now, it looks highly unlikely for Nair to get two more Tests, and it's unfortunately a byproduct of his own inability to convert starts.
The 34-year-old veteran is on borrowed time, and the one chance that he asked for might have sadly come and gone.