Karun Nair’s performance in the England versus India series hasn’t been great. In three Tests, he’s scored 131 runs, averaging just under 22. Though he didn’t seem totally lost at Headingley, Edgbaston, and Lord’s, facing 249 balls, he appeared to struggle with high-quality pace and seam movement.
After eight years, Nair got another chance with the Indian team, but just 25 days into his Test return, he faces a tough challenge.
Indian cricket team assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate spoke about Nair’s place on the team. He said the team’s spirits are up, despite losing two winnable Tests. It might sound odd since we’re down 2-1, but we think the guys have played great for most of the series. Dropping many wickets quickly has been the reason for our losses.
In both Headingley and Lord’s, losing six wickets for 40 runs cost us the game. But if you check each batter’s runs, they’re all batting okay, he said.
Even with Karun, we believe his rhythm and tempo are good. We want more runs from the three. But the main thing is, let’s focus on what we’ve been doing right and fix the small stuff that caused us to lose, Ryan ten Doeschate added.
India needs Nair to be solid at number three. He joined the team after scoring many runs in domestic cricket.
With India down 1-2 and another week until the next game, the managers need to decide: keep Nair or give Sai Sudharsan a shot? Sudharsan was left out after his first game.
Dropping Sudharsan wasn’t really fair. It was done to add another batter at number eight.
A month later, Nair might be replaced by the 23-year-old Sudharsan at Old Trafford. This could be the only change as India tries to even the series in the game starting July 23.