Batting for over nine hours, Karun Nair would create history on 19 December 2016, becoming the second Indian Test batter to score a triple ton.

In just his third Test, the Karnataka middle order bat had finally settled at Test level after a slow start at that level. Or so we thought. Such was the strength of the Indian middle order, Nair was out of the Indian Test XI once Ajinkya Rahane was deemed fit in February 2017.

An SOS call was given to Nair after India were comprehensively humiliated in Pune against Australia, but 54 runs in his next four innings would see him out of the Indian Test squad altogether by July 2017. From being India’s first and only Test triple centurion since Virender Sehwag, Nair was suddenly sidelined from the Indian Test squad in less than 12 months.

However, Nair did not sulk and proceeded to impress in first class cricket, scoring 853 runs in his next 16 FC innings with four hundreds including an impressive 134 against a Hyderabad attack led by Mohammad Siraj and 153 against a Vidarbha led by Umesh Yadav in the 2017/18 Ranji Trophy semi final.

Following an impressive season for Karnataka, Nair was recalled into the Indian Test squad for a five-match Test series in England. Despite the Indian batting lineup outside of Virat Kohli struggling for runs in the tour, Nair was benched for the whole tour. To make things worse for Nair, he was leapfrogged by Hanuma Vihari for the fifth Test, despite Vihari only making the Test squad from the fourth Test onwards. Despite not being given a chance, Nair would be dropped from the Indian Test squad once again.

Following horrible inconsistency in India’s team selection, Nair’s form in first class cricket went through a dip, scoring only 224 runs in 10 innings in the 2018/19 Ranji Trophy. Forget his triple century in Test cricket. This was a man who came in with Karnataka 5/84 in reply to Tamil Nadu’s first innings total of 134 in the 2014/15 Ranji Trophy final and amassed 328 runs, batting for 872 minutes as Karnataka won by an innings and 217 runs. How did someone who loved to bat long and bat big lose his midas touch? And it was not as if Nair was a household name. He was a red ball cricketer who did not capture the eyeballs of the Indian public as he was not a big game player in the IPL.

Nair’s first class career showed glimpses of a revival, however inconsistency would see him be relieved of captaincy for Karnataka at the end of the 2019/20 Ranji Trophy and dropped from the Karnataka team altogether after a loss to Uttar Pradesh in the 2021/22 Ranji Trophy quarter final. The once promising youngster from a Karnataka batting lineup that produced internationals in KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey and himself, Karun Nair’s career seemed to be all over.

Karun Nair. (Photo by Surjeet Yadav/MB Media/Getty Images)

However, cricket is a funny game. Having not played any professional cricket since June 2022, Karun Nair would leave his home state and move to the central part of India, joining the Vidarbha team. After all, he could finish his career as a domestic stalwart of the game in India and help Vidarbha become a force in domestic cricket. But before he would join Vidarbha, Nair would receive an opportunity to join Northamptonshire in England and replace Australian batter Sam Whiteman as the overseas signing. Nair impressed in his short three-game stint for Northants, scoring 249 runs in three innings, including a whopping 150 against a Surrey attack consisting of Kemar Roach, Dan Worrall and Jamie Overton.

Nair’s fortunes continued to go on the up and as luck would have it, Vidarbha would face Karnataka in the 2023/24 Ranji Trophy quarter final. Scoring 90 and 34 in the quarter final in Nagpur, Vidarbha would go on to comfortably win the contest by 127 runs. Scoring a half century in the semi final, Vidarbha would go onto beat Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy semis before falling short to giants Mumbai in the final, with Nair scoring 0 and 74, finishing the 2023/24 Ranji Trophy with 690 runs in 17 innings consisting of two centuries and three half centuries at an average of 40.58. Although those were not mind blowing numbers, at least Nair was back playing first class cricket in India. And he would continue to play red ball cricket with Northants keeping him as an overseas player for the 2024 County Championship.

Nair would continue to impress in his county stint, scoring 487 runs in 11 innings with three fifties and a high score of 202 not out against Glamorgan. Having played red ball cricket consistently for a year and performing well, would Nair be able to kick on at the age of 32?

Despite a slow start to the 2024/25 Ranji season, Nair would finish the group stage with an impressive knock of 105 against a Mohammad Siraj led Hyderabad attack where Vidarbha won by 58 runs and qualified for the quarter finals. Having tormented Tamil Nadu as a Karnataka player in the Ranji Trophy final 10 years ago, Karun Nair would once again torment Tamil Nadu in a Ranji knockout game, batting 414 minutes en route to a score of 122 in the first innings as Vidarbha comfortably won by 198 runs. Despite Nair not impressing with the bat in the semi final against Mumbai, the likes of Yash Rathod and Akshay Wadkar impressed in the middle order as Vidarbha would make the final, taking on first time finalists Kerala.

Walking in at no.5 in the final on the opening day, Vidarbha were all over the shop at 3-24 in the opening hour. Biding his time, Nair opted to grind the Kerala attack rather than bazballing his team out of trouble, scoring 86 in the first innings before being run out late on day one as Vidarbha would be bowled out for 379 on day two. Kerala fought hard, but Vidarbha got a crucial 37-run lead at the completion of the first innings. As it is in Ranji knockout games, the team with a first innings lead would be declared winners if the contests would end as a draw on day five, something Kerala knew well having won by a two-run first innings lead against Gujarat in the semi final as the contest ended up as a draw.

Promoted to no.4 on day four, Nair once again walked in with Vidarbha in trouble, this time 2/7 early on the fourth morning. And just like the first innings, Nair would choose to grind the Kerala attack. Batting for 390 minutes, Nair would score his 23rd first class century, finishing on 135 as the game would be declared a draw midway through day five as Vidarbha were crowned Ranji Trophy winners, their third title in the past 10 years. Nair finished the 2024/25 Ranji season as the fourth highest run scorer with 863 runs in 16 innings at an average just under 54 with four hundreds and two half centuries. And if that comeback itself was not a great story, news of a Test recall to the Indian Test squad after seven years would make it an even sweeter comeback.

Born as a premature baby in the city of Rajasthan, Karun Nair was sent to a cricket academy at the age of six so that he could exercise and be involved in physical activities to counter his health, particularly lung issues. His father Kaladharan is a mechanical engineer who has played a big part in Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru boasting one of the best drainage facilities in world cricket. Despite early setbacks in his life, Nair went on to represent India in Test and ODI cricket. Even after he was dropped from the Indian Test squad after not getting a single chance in the tour of England, all he asked for was clarity from the selectors.

And as many professional athletes have faced, Nair had his fair share of setbacks. From not being good enough for his home state after winning red and white ball titles with Karnataka alongside captaining Karnataka, Karun Nair has had an almighty comeback. Indian cricketers past the age of 30 hardly get a recall to the Test side, especially if they have played less than 10 Test matches. However, a combination of good form in red ball cricket and the retirements of Indian stalwarts from Test cricket has seen Nair receive an almighty amount of luck that had deserted him for so long.

In December 2022, Nair emotionally posted a status on X, pleading for a chance in professional cricket having been dropped in June 2022. Now 33 years old, Karun Nair enters the Indian Test squad for their tour of England as an experienced domestic veteran with County Cricket experience.

He has nothing to lose. Nair is used to setbacks in his cricket career. Having shown his big game experience for Vidarbha, Nair is likely to bat at four or five for India in the five match series in England. He will be sharing a dressing room with KL Rahul, a close friend of his from his childhood days as the pair have shared a dressing room at age group level, state, franchise and international level. With India having a young core of batters for this series, Nair’s county and first class experience as a whole is crucial for India to gain anything out of a series they are likely to lose as badly as the 2011 Indian touring team of England. With nothing to lose and everything to gain for Karun Nair, he arguably enters English shores as India’s most important wicket. And England must be prepared for that.