Karun Nair has been selected in the Indian test team for the England tour 2025. He has finally made a comeback after 8 years. He had last played a test match against Australia in 2017. After delivering consistent performances in the domestic circuit, it was highly expected and widely circulated in the media that he will be considered for the England tour.
This is going to be one of the finest comebacks in the history of Indian cricket. After scoring a triple hundred in just the third match in his debut series, he had shown a great promise but suddenly after playing just 6 test matches, he was out of the team and couldn’t come back. However, after being snubbed from the Indian team, he was also not doing very well in the domestic circuit to attract the selectors’ attention.
đź’¬ "Shubman Gill is a terrific player, and our best wishes are with him."
— BCCI (@BCCI) May 24, 2025
🗣️ Men’s Selection Committee Chairman Ajit Agarkar on Gill's appointment as #TeamIndia Test captain#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/xD4eKitPym
Karun Nair overcomes his flaws and makes a comeback
Back in his home state Karnataka, his lack of numbers and proper guidance saw him go without a century for 56 domestic matches across formats. He went from being the captain to warming the bench. This prompted the talented batter to move to Vidarbha.
In Dec 2022, Nair’s social media post, “Dear cricket, give me one more chance”, went viral. Nair’s comeback trail began in County Championship in the summer of 2023. Turning up for Northamptonshire in the county championship division one in 2023, he served a reminder of his proficiency, scoring 249 in three matches, which included a 144* against Surrey. The following year, he upped the ante with an unbeaten double century (202*) against Glamorgan.
But last year’s domestic season saw a completely transformed Karun Nair where he just kept on piling hundreds one after the other. Playing for Vidarbha, the right-hander was in prolific form in the 2024–25 domestic season, scoring 863 runs in nine Ranji Trophy matches with four centuries, and 779 runs in eight Vijay Hazare Trophy innings, including five centuries. With the help of Nair’s heroics, Vidarbha claimed the Ranji Trophy title for the third time. In the final also, he scored 86 and 135 in first and second innings respectively against Kerala. Eventually the match was drawn and Vidarbha won on lead in the first innings basis.
In IPL 2025 as well, Karun Nair has done pretty well for Delhi Capitals and played some match winning knocks. However Delhi Capitals couldn’t qualify for the playoffs.
It was very much expected that Karun may be picked for the England tour based on his past and present performances and it has been rightly done so. He has earned his spot in the team which he truly deserves.
How Karun Nair reacts on his selection
Back in the Indian team after a long gap of eight years, batter Karun Nair on Saturday expressed his delight and said he was “awaiting this call” after amassing big runs in the 2024-25 domestic season. “Grateful to get back, happy and proud and fortunate. Found out like all of you found out (about his selection). Was eagerly awaiting the call, got a lot of messages from close ones,” Nair said after playing a pivotal role in Delhi Capitals’ six-wicket win over Punjab Kings in the IPL here.
“Really happy and proud. Have been batting well in the last 12-16 months. It’s about keeping my processes the same and do the same things that have worked for me,” Nair said.
Other than Karun Nair, the selection of other young players like Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sai Sudarshan and Arshdeep Singh has attracted the eyeballs of fans and media alike.
“We are looking at all sorts of scenarios over the next two years. What is going to help build a team leading up to that WTC final” said Ajit Agarkar. After the retirement of stalwarts like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, this Indian team is in the transition phase. With Shubman Gill as the new captain and other young players, the Ajit Agarkar led selection committee is expecting a smooth transition.
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