What more must Karun Nair do to earn an Indian Test recall?

Karun Nair [Source: @ImTanujSingh/x.com]

Once hailed as India’s next mainstay in the middle-order, especially after his Test triple century against England in 2016, Karun Nair’s international career has since faded almost as abruptly as it began. After his impressive Test stint against England, a failed home series against Australia dried up his opportunities, leaving him to resort back to domestic cricket in search of an international recall.

Year after year, either for Karnataka or Vidarbha, Karun Nair has been piling up runs in red-ball and white-ball formats alike. While he did earn a fitting return to the Indian team for a five-match Test tour of England a couple of months ago, his below-par returns on tough English surfaces prompted selectors to ignore him once again as India faced West Indies at home without him.

Nonetheless, as he continues to churn out match-winning knocks in domestic cricket, the question lingers louder than ever: what more must Karun Nair do to earn that long overdue India recall?

Karun Nair – The forgotten Test triple centurion

Karun Nair made his Test debut for India in November 2016 during the third match of the five-Test series against England. In the final Test of that series, Nair notched up his maiden fifty, converted it into his first hundred, and went on to script India’s only third triple century, a monumental 303* in Chennai.

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However, what should have been the start of a flourishing international career instead became a brief chapter, marred with inconsistency and a dip in form that soon pushed him out of the team.

For instance, in his following series for India just a couple of months down the line, Karun Nair accrued just 54 runs against Australia in four innings at an average of 13.50, a sorry looking figure that prompted the Indian selectors to hunt for steadier middle-order options, effectively shutting the door on Nair’s Test career for the time being.

Karun Nair Tests stats after first six matches:

Karun Nair Test stats after first six matches, excluding 303*:

A domestic stalwart still knocking on the door

Seemingly unfazed by his repeated Test snubs, Karun Nair continues to rack up mountains of runs in domestic cricket, reaffirming his stature as one of India’s most reliable middle-order batters outside the national setup.

In the past two Ranji Trophy seasons alone, both for Vidarbha, the right-hander has aggregated over 1,500 runs at healthy batting averages, plundering six tons and five half-centuries in the process.

Karun Nair stats in Ranji Trophy 2023-24

Karun Nair stats in Ranji Trophy 2024-25

Even in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2025-26 season, albeit for Karnataka, Karun Nair churned out a ‘daddy hundred’ relatively earlier in the tournament, scoring 174* runs from 267 balls with 14 boundaries and three huge sixes in Shimoga against Goa. 

Such performances only reinforce the notion that Karun Nair remains far from a spent force, even years after his last international appearance. With consistency, experience, and temperament all in his arsenal, his continued exclusion from India’s Test setup feels less like a reflection of his form and more like a cruel twist of fate. 

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