After career-redefining two seasons for Vidarbha, Karun Nair set to play for Karnataka again in upcoming domestic cricket season

33-year-old Karun Nair is set to return to Karnataka for the upcoming 2025-26 domestic season. Nair, who is currently representing India on England soil in Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, has received a no-objection-certificate from Vidarbha Cricket Association. The move comes after he made a comeback to the Test side after eight long years on the back of performances for Vidarbha. 

In the previous season, Nair had scored 963 runs from 16 innings at an average of 53.93, featuring four centuries. He scored a match-winning century in the Ranji Trophy final against Kerala. 

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Nair loses form after blockbuster arrival

Nair has not been in best of forms of late. He made a statement with a double century on arrival to England. However, since then, he has not scored a fifty. In the second unofficial Test against England Lions, he registered scores of 40 and 15. 

He made his Test comeback at Headingley, Leeds but batted out of his position in top order. At no.6, he could not excel and followed up a duck with a 20-run knock. In Edgbaston Test, he returned to no.3 position. He got starts (31, 26) but could not go on to get a big score. In Lord's Test, he looked poised to score a fifty but perished for 40. In the run chase, his wicket led to a mini collapse as Brydon Carse trapped him in front of the wickets for 14.

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Meanwhile, there is a question mark whether the team management would stick with Nair, who has showed flashes of brilliance but no substantial scores.

Nair's record across formats for Vidarbha

Overall, Nair has scored 1,553 runs from Vidarbha from 19 first-class games, including six centuries and five fifties. 

In One-Dayers, he scored 1,009 runs from 17 games at an astonishing average of 144.14, including six centuries and two fifties. He also set a List A record by scoring 542 runs without being dismissed, most by a player in the format.

He was impressive in the T20 format as well. In Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy, he scored 473 runs from 13 innings at an average of 39.41, strike rate of 164.80. He scored five fifties in the format for Vidarbha as well.