Karnataka has always produced mentally hard crickets. “It’s part of the blood,” says Child coach Karun Nair that the pride in his voice is almost palpable. “It’s part of culture.”
Vijay Madyalkar called Karnataka’s own brand Khadoos – less abrasive than Mumbai, but no less tireless. Few people embody it as Karun Nair.
In December 2016, Nair announced ThunderClap: 303 Not against England in ChennaiWhich made him only the second Indian after Virender Sehwag, which hit the triple century in tests. There were only three matches in his test career. At the age of 25 the future looked gilded. But it never completely arrived.
In 2017 there were three more tests against Australia. And then silence. He was chosen on England in 2018, sitting on the bench for four tests, and when the final match opened a vacancy, India in Hanus Vihari flew – which was not even in the group. Nair, who was, didn’t get the game.
3006 days later Karun Nair came to Bat for India In the test match. It was in Headingley in Leeds, a long, winding road from Chennai, where he last wore white for India. Released on the duck, it was not a fairy -tale return that many could dream of, but the fact that he was there again on a team sheet, in white, perhaps the beginning of the second shift.
No one better than Nair knows that there are second shifts – in the test and in life.
“Waiting is not new for Karun, isn’t it?” Vijay says before he replied. “Absolutely. You won’t believe it-should make their debut a year earlier. But because they were older players on the team, I had to wait. I remember one season we traveled with Karnataka aside to Visag, and in five matches I noticed 500 runs.
But this kind of patience can bruise a career. And that was. Karun drove without explanation from the Indian side without saying goodbye.
Then, in 2022, the silence became louder. He was abandoned from Karnataka’s Ranji party, a team that once captain. Opportunities have dried up. The door of the Indian Premier League (IPL) closed.
Simple Plan: Continue to launch
One day he appeared at Vijay’s cricket academy on the outskirts of Bengaluru, two hours in a stiff operation. He had no matches to play, no team to represent. Just a stubborn blink of faith.
“That was in 2022,” recalls his coach. “He wasn’t part of the state team. He was very upset and had no cricket. One day he came to the academy.”
“He just said,” Lord, I don’t know why, but I want to do something. “”
Vijay Madyalekar did not offer reasons. Just a plan.
“I said,” You’re Batsman. Let’s focus only on the launch. You don’t have to worry about anything. Your thinking is brilliant. Your fitness is excellent. You’ve already scored three times in the test – what can I teach you? “So we decided to improve his skills and constantly hit the balls.
Five months of silent obsession followed.
“We kept it simple – Basic Cricket. Covered units, cut shots, the same skills were repeated. You won’t believe it – playing every alternative day of 600 balls. We literally counted them. It never took light.
One more chance
The same year, Karun posted a tweet that would later gain dynamics“Dear cricket, give me one more chance.” At that time it barely ripple. But in 2024, when he began to control the home circuit again, the tweet became viral.
Karun did not make any stir. He simply accepted anything he found – corresponds to the Karnataka Premier League, home games under the gray English sky, grinding magic for Visarbha on a dry, cracked dust bowls back home.
After being displaced by Karnatak, he moved the base to Vidarbh with a quiet determination. In 2023 and 2024 he took the game to England – first with a local club, then with Northamptonshire at the regional championship. There he also dug up deep: 249 runs in three matches in 2023, followed by 487 in seven next year, including Stoic Double.
Karun was persistent by the 2024-25 season. He designed the trophy charts of Vijay Hazare with 779 runs with an amazing diameter of 389.50. He was Vidarbh’s leading shooter in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy. And in the trophy Ranji ended up as the fourth highest run in the country, his four centuries help in the Visarbha campaign.
And through this he expanded his scope, his hunger, faith. Karun Nair had a star home season (PTI Photo)
“It was focused purely on improving skills. He even developed a new stroke-reverse six-KPE executed beautifully during the KPL (Karnataka Premier League). We have never talked about the future or his past failures. He never proved frustration or disappointment. His only goal was to prepare.”
It was a mantra in exile during his years: no talk of the future, no being in the past. Just another ball and then.
When India finally came to call again, the coach barely had to say the word.
“Not much,” he says about their conversation. “He’s a silent man. We understand each other without having to say a lot. I watched his trophy game ranji and sent him a message several times, but that’s all.”
Yet the satisfaction was enormous.
“For every coach, it’s a moment we’re waiting for – that’s our reward. Everything else comes and goes, but these are the moments we want to experience. It’s a very satisfactory feeling.”
“If I could give Karun one message for the rest of his career,” says the coach, “That would be: continue scoring running and make sure you play for India whenever you play for India, help win the team. That’s the only thing that matters.”
Now, at the age of 33, with a broken silence and re -checking the result board, Karun Nair has a chance he applied for.
Published:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
June 23, 2025
