Indian and Vidarbha batter Karun Nair is currently going through a dream batting form. Nair is breaking all kinds of records in domestic cricket and knocking hard on the doors of Indian team selection for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Nair finally opened up after his brilliant performances in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, India’s domestic 50-over tournament. He still dreams of playing for India one day and that keeps motivating him to perform well.
The 33-year-old simply wants to focus on one round at a time and continue to perform at every opportunity that presents itself. He believes that hard work is the only way to succeed and has not done anything different until now.
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“The dream is always to play for the country” – Karun Nair
Karun Nair has spoken about his dream of playing international cricket for India and wants to focus on every innings. He wants to do everything within his control and doesn’t want to think too far ahead.
“The dream is always to play for the country. So, yes, the dream is still alive. That’s the reason why we play this game, to play for your country. So the one and only goal was to play for the country,” Karun was quoted as saying by PTI.
“I think this is my third comeback (laughs). And I have to keep doing what I’m doing right now. Keep scoring points whenever I can in every match that I play. That’s it what I can do Everything else is not in my control,” he added.
“But until (the selection) happens, it’s just a dream. It’s still not there. But again, like I said, I would like to focus on one innings at a time,” the Vidarbha batter revealed.
“I didn’t do anything differently” – Karun Nair
Karun Nair was further asked about the things he changed to improve his performance. He replied that only hard work had put him in this situation and that he had not done anything differently. He always had this self-confidence and wanted to be in a positive state of mind.
“I didn’t do anything differently. There’s no secret. I think it’s just years of hard work and perseverance, you know, to put it all together. And you can probably say, take every day like a newbie and making sure I respect every inning I play,” Karun said.
When he was in bad shape, he would start from scratch and work hard again. He further spoke about having a positive thought process even when he was not in good form with the bat.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. I think anyone would have those feelings. But I never thought my career was going to end. I just thought where would it take me? What am I doing? How did this happen?” Karun noted.
“It takes time to get out of that phase and understand what’s happening and then what you’re supposed to do. So, I told myself I had to start from scratch. And give myself a few years and see .where it goes. And then I can decide what to do. So that was my thought process,” he explained.
Karun Nair in the Vijay Hazare Trophy
Karun Nair scored 752 runs in eight matches at a staggering average of 752 and strike rate of 125.96. The right-hander has hit 5 hundreds and 1 fifty in the seven innings he has hit so far in the tournament.
Nair is the highest scorer in the tournament so far. He also holds the record for most runs scored without being dismissed in List A cricket. His powerful performances keep him in good shape to be considered in the Indian squad for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Karun Nair has played 6 Tests and 2 ODIs for India. He scored 374 runs at an average of 62.33 in Tests with a triple century to his credit. In two ODIs, he scored 46 runs at an average of 23.
