Champions Trophy 2025: Why Karun Nair's extraordinary Vijay Hazare run makes it impossible for selectors to ignore him

It’s been a season to remember for Vidarbha in the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT), which is set to conclude on Saturday with the Nagpur-based team taking on four-time champions Karnataka in the final in Vadodara. After topping Group D with six wins in as many outings, Vidarbha thrashed Rajasthan by nine wickets in a chase of 292 in the quarter-finals before storming into their maiden VHT final with a 69-run victory over Maharashtra in the semi-finals.

Playing a central role in Vidarbha’s run to the final is captain Karun Nair of the 303* fame. The 33-year-old currently sits at the top of the Vijay Hazare run-scorers’ list, scoring 752 runs in seven outings. What makes his contribution even more extraordinary is the fact that he has been dismissed just once in the entire tournament, meaning his average is the same as the runs he has scored so far – an otherworldly 752!

Nair enjoys a sizeable lead at the top, having scored 133 more runs than his Karnataka counterpart Mayank Agarawal, who has scored 619 runs at an average of 103.16 despite getting dismissed for scores of 6 and 0 in his last two outings. Nair and Agarawal have scored a combined nine centuries so far in the ongoing tournament and have been central to their teams’ run to Saturday’s summit clash.

Nair’s blazing run difficult for selectors to ignore

Nair could not have timed his red-hot Vijay Hazare run better – smashing four consecutive centuries and nearly scoring a fifth in the semi-final against Maharashtra at a time when the Ajit Agarkar-led senior selection committee is on the verge of naming India’s squads for their upcoming One-Day International assignments.

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India play a three-match ODI series against England immediately after a five-match T20I series against the same team, and later travel to the United Arab Emirates for the ICC Champions Trophy, with the Men in Blue set to play all of their games in Dubai despite Pakistan hosting the event.

The BCCI had unveiled India’s squad for the England T20Is last week and skipper Rohit Sharma and chief selector Agarkar are set to end speculation over the 50-over side on Saturday in a press conference at 12.30 pm IST.

A key reason behind the delay in announcing the ODI squad is the fact that Rohit and Virat Kohli’s presence in the 50-over format along with senior all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja makes the job of picking a balanced squad for the format trickier for the selectors.

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Agarkar and Co are also likely to persist with seniors KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant after leaving them out of the T20I side, further reducing room for consistent domestic performers and fringe players to even get included in the squad, let alone find a place in the XI.

There is a vacancy in the bowling department for now with senior pacer Jasprit Bumrah currently recovering from a back injury. However, the ODI batting department is packed to the brim and someone like Sanju Samson, who has been in red-hot form in T20Is and had scored a match-winning century in South Africa in his last one-day appearance for the Men in Blue, might find it difficult to get included.

Then again, Nair has made full use of BCCI’s delay in announcing India’s squad for the upcoming ODI fixtures; he smashed an unbeaten 122 a day after the T20I squad was announced, stitching an unbeaten 200-run stand for the second wicket with Dhruv Shorey to knock Rajasthan out in the quarter-finals.

He would then follow it up with an unbeaten 88 on Thursday to help Vidarbha post a daunting 380 in the semi-final against Maharashtra, who ended up falling well short of the target.

And no matter how crowded India’s ODI team is at the moment, the selectors are going to have a hard time explaining to fans how they chose to overlook an average of 752 – that too when the Men in Blue are on the verge of playing an ICC event.

Nair’s last appearance for the Indian team was nearly eight years ago, during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia at home just three months after becoming only the second Indian cricketer to score a triple hundred in Test cricket. And given how far he had fallen down the pecking order, Nair’s days as an Indian cricketer appeared to be behind him.

Thanks to his extraordinary run in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Nair might get one last shot at representing the nation. And if he’s able to carry his domestic form over to the international arena, Nair might end up making his dream of an extended run with the Indian team a reality.