Karun Nair - Living the dream

Tanay Tiwari 21:00 19/12/2016
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Karun Nair showed his full range of shots.

    Sometimes when you reflect on a glorious moment in life you can’t help but wonder, are things ever going to get better?

    If you are a professional cricketer in a cricket-mad nation, chances are, you’ve been through such times more than most for only 11 make it to the playing field at a time. Meanwhile, another four take the bench, and a few million live to aspire.

    Karun Nair, a shy young man from Karnataka has been through all these stages only to suddenly be elevated to a pedestal few would deem achievable. While the rise has been phenomenal, it has been fuelled by some very good fortune too.

    In the last three years, the Indian Test team has only handed one Test cap to a batsman – KL Rahul. It was not until a spree of injuries ruled out India’s frontline batsmen, that Nair was called to join the Indian Test squad.

    And just when Nair thought things were finally falling into place after a dismal tour for India A where he managed only 38 runs in four innings, his debut Test innings turned out to be a disaster after he was run-out because of a rare false call from captain Virat Kohli.

    The Jodhpur-born batsman’s second innings, in Mumbai, didn’t last too long either as he managed to score just 13 runs before he got out to a review of the on-field decision judging him not out.

    So when Nair landed in Chennai, amid a cyclone that was harrowing the city, there was an inner storm that was tearing him apart too. At this level, with such competition around, opportunities don’t come along often.

    Unlike his Karnataka team-mate and friend Rahul, there is not much about Nair that makes you stand up and take notice. He isn’t flashy in his stroke-play, doesn’t sport tattoos, and is barely expressive. But, things were to change, come the Chennai Test.

    I remember watching Nair walk into bat and saying to myself, if he can get a 60 or 70 here, that would do his confidence a world of good. Ever since his first-class debut in 2013, Nair has been the highest run-scorer in Indian cricket, scoring 2977 runs.

    But this wasn’t domestic cricket, the stakes here were high, and the room for failure, nonexistent.

    Karun Nair's knock - By the numbers

    • Runs: 303
    • Balls: 381
    • Fours: 32
    • Sixes: 4

    The Karnataka batsman started cautiously, building his innings knowing that trailing by 266 runs, another wicket and England would tighten the noose further. He went on to bat with Rahul and build a partnership of 161 runs before the latter was dismissed unfortunately for 199.

    Nair, though, kept going almost unnoticed. Only when he played five consecutive dot balls at 99 did you realise that the rookie was heading towards his maiden Test century. Then a steer past backward-point and he was away!

    No high jumps, no exuberant sprints, just a wry smile and a gentle appreciation of the applause. His parents were in attendance too. This was indeed a proud moment befitting a tear-or-two of joy.

    Suddenly, Nair seemed to have gotten all the answers. He was hooking the short deliveries, reverse-sweeping the spinners and ramping balls for fours and sixes.

    All of this wasn’t sans chances, of course, he was dropped on 34 by the English skipper Alastair Cook. Then he edged one to Jonny Bairstow but the umpires didn’t hear a sound, and England were out of reviews. Then, again at 217, he edged one off Jake Ball which was almost grabbed by Joe Root in the slip-cordon.

    But, this was his day, it seemed like he could take an exam with a cell phone in his pocket and cheat notes on his desk and go unpunished.

    Eight years ago, at the same ground, Virender Sehwag blasted South Africa to bits, racing to the fastest-ever triple century in Test cricket.

    When, at 254, Nair tonked Moeen Ali for a six over mid-wicket, the improbable seemed palpable. He was in the groove. He was seeing the ball well, hitting it even better, but the eternal Indian superstition subdued that as just a possibility.

    At 299, after a mini-blitzkrieg scoring his last 59 runs off 39 balls, Nair seemed impatient. Then, a short ball outside the off-stump from Adil Rashid put everything into place.

    A boy who was struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel not so long ago was suddenly under the brightest spotlight.

    Just 25 years old, Nair had become only the third batsman after Sir Garry Sobers and Bob Simpson to convert his maiden hundred into a triple century. After a brief celebration, like a kid after the stage-play is over, Nair looked for his parents in the stands and waved to them.

    He had lived the dream, his parents had too, all in a day’s cricket.

    Recommended