He has made a comeback into India's Test squad after eight long years.
After long years of wait, the veteran batter Karun Nair has finally made a return to the Test squad of India. He is on the team for India’s five-match tour of England, which will kick off on June 20, in Headingley.
The former Karnataka batter opined that the authority should consider both the Ranji Trophy and the Indian Premier League (IPL) performances of a player before selecting him in the national red-ball squad. Amidst the growing popularity of limited overs cricket, especially T20s, he emphasised that it should not be the only criteria for entering the Indian circuit for all three formats.
“It should be a mix of both. It should mainly be first-class cricket, and then a bit of IPL too. If these players can replicate their form from first-class cricket at the IPL level, it should count. It shouldn’t be that they only play IPL and not first-class cricket, and get a chance in the Indian team. It should be a mix of both, but mainly focusing on first-class cricket, where you play on different conditions and surfaces,” said Nair on Ravichandran Ashwin’s YouTube channel.
ALSO READ:
Karun also recalled his remarkable triple century against England in the third match of his debut Test series in 2016. However, he just played another three-match home series against Australia and was dropped from the team. Since then, it took the batter eight long years to make a comeback in India’s Test squad.
“I couldn’t understand what was happening. After the 300 in Chennai, I played against Australia and then wasn’t part of the Sri Lanka series. I couldn’t understand what was happening. I had to go back to domestic cricket and score a lot of runs and then make a comeback for the England series. All I knew was that my name wasn’t there, I didn’t know how it wasn’t there,” he stressed.
The 33-year-old has had a brilliant season for Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25. He put up 863 runs in nine matches which included three tons and a half-century. Karun was also Vidarbha’s third-highest run-scorer in this Ranji edition.
The batter also made a comeback in the IPL after three years. The Delhi Capitals acquired him for INR 50 lakhs in the IPL 2025 auction. He scored an excellent 89-run knock off 40 balls at an astonishing strike rate of 222.50 in his first match of the IPL 2025 against the Mumbai Indians. He went on to score a total of 198 runs in eight matches at a strike rate of 172.17 in the tournament.
The batter is now gearing up to don the whites once again in the upcoming red-ball series against England. He has also notched up a scintillating 204 for India A during the first unofficial four-day Test against the England Lions.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube.
![Rohit Sharma Congratulates Sri Lanka All-rounder Angelo Mathews After His Retirement From Tests [WATCH]](https://cricxtasy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Rohit-Sharma-Congratulates-Sri-Lanka-All-rounder-After-His-Retirement-From-Tests-WATCH-600x450.png)
