Justified or harsh: Did Karun Nair's Test career deserve BCCI selectors' backing?

Karun Nair was dropped from IND squad for WI Tests [Source: AFP]

On Thursday, the BCCI selection committee announced India's formidable squad for the upcoming Test series against the West Indies. While Devdutt Padikkal and Axar Patel were recalled, experienced batter Karun Nair was one of the biggest names to face the axe after the England tour. 

Karun Nair's reaction to Test snub

You wouldn't expect a player to be too pleased with his snub from a particular cricketing format, would you? Karun Nair was well within his rights to express his opinion and demand a logical answer to his non-selection. 

"Yes, I did expect the selection. I don't know what to say. No words. I don't have many comments to make. It's very difficult for me to answer. You should probably ask the selectors what they are thinking. The only thing is, in the last Test match, I scored a fifty when no one else managed in the first innings. So, yeah, I thought I contributed to the team, especially in the last game that we won. But, yeah, it is what it is. Those things don't matter,” Nair was quoted as saying by TOI. 

But is the veteran domestic batter correct in his assessment, or did the BCCI selection committee play it fair and square by showing him the exit door?

The counter side of the argument

Karun Nair said that he lived up to the expectations in the final Test when the chips were down. Indeed, India were reeling at 123 for five when the Karnataka batter formed vital stands with Dhruv Jurel and Washington Sundar, playing a pivotal role in powering the visitors to 224 in their first innings. 

But, interestingly, this was the only time Nair proved his mettle on the England tour, that too after letting India down on six consecutive occasions. While he rightfully claimed that he stood up when the others failed, it's also true that he failed when most of the Indian batters thrived on more batting-friendly surfaces.

(Indian batters in 1st 3 Tests of England tour)

The aforementioned stats suggest that Karun Nair was India's worst performer among all specialist batters who played the first three Tests against England. The England bowlers exploited his technical limitations against the moving ball, as the batter averaged just over 21 despite India giving him a golden opportunity to revive his Test career. 

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Karun Nair's Test career: Full of lows with occasional highs

Karun Nair played 15 innings for India in Tests, managing to breach the fifty-run mark only twice in his career. Barring the sensational triple hundred, Nair registered only one fifty-plus score, coincidentally against the Englishmen. Here are Nair's scores in Test cricket apart from these two knocks. 

(Karun Nair's Test scores apart from 303* and 57 vs ENG)

The scores presented in the above table highlight Karun Nair's inconsistency in the purest format. The batter failed to breach the 40-run mark on thirteen occasions, forcing the Indian selectors to look beyond him amid India's search for a dependable middle-order batter in the post-Kohli era. 

BCCI chose facts over sentiment

8675 runs in 194 innings at a superb First-Class average of 48.73; these numbers truly signify Karun Nair's potential as a red-ball giant in the domestic circuit. However, practically, a particular player can't be backed for a very long time solely based on his abilities, even if he registers multiple failures in international cricket. Therefore, Karun Nair is a classic case of unfulfilled potential, and the BCCI selection committee was absolutely spot on in replacing him with a promising player like B Sai Sudharsan. 

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