 "Karun Nair had squandered the chance he got in the England series. Image: AP")
India batter Karun Nair has expressed his disappointment after being dropped from the Test squad for the upcoming series against the West Indies. The Ajit Agarkar led selection panel left Nair out of the red-ball team and instead backed young left-hander Devdutt Padikkal.
Nair had recently returned to the Test team after more than eight years and played four of the five Tests in the England series. However, he failed to live up to the expectations, scoring only 205 runs in the series at an average of 25.62. He scored one fifty, which came in the first innings of the final Test at The Oval.
Karun Nair hits back at Agarkar & Co.
Speaking to Times of India, Nair said he had expected to be picked again but didn’t know how to react after being ignored. He pointed to his half-century in the last Test as proof of his contribution in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
“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 said.
Explaining the decision, Agarkar said the selectors wanted more consistency from Nair and that one innings is not enough to consolidate place in the Indian team. “We expected more from Karun Nair. It can’t be just one innings. Padikkal offers more. We would like to give 15-20 chances to everyone, but it is not possible in these circumstances,” Agarkar said in a press conference.
Padikkal has been rewarded for his good form, as he recently scored a century for India A against Australia A. Agarkar said his consistent domestic and A-team runs made the difference. Nair’s Test career, on the other hand, now appears to be over, given that he made his comeback after so many years but failed to consolidate his place once again.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIndia’s squad: Shubman Gill (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja (VC), Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, N Jagadeesan (WK), Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav.