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Shubman Gill-led India are currently preparing for the first Test match of the five-match series against England which will take place at Yorkshire Cricket Ground in Leeds, England from June 20 to 24. The upcoming Test series will be the first red-ball assignment after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's Test retirements.
Since Rohit and Virat have announced their retirement from the longest format of the game, two spots in India's playing XI are vacant. In Rohit's absence, India will look for a new opener and skipper Gill have confirmed that he will bat at number four, where Virat used to feature in Tests. BCCI added new faces in the squad against England, and veteran batter Karun Nair also made his India comeback as he is a part of the 18-member squad against the Three Lions. England have already announced their playing XI for the first Test and India will announce at the time of the Toss. However, the BCCI shared a video where they hinted that Karun Nair will be a part of India's playing XI in 1st Test. Here is the clip.
"My first thought when I woke up was I want to play test cricket. I want to play for India again. That's probably what kept me going and kept me hungry. The driving force, go to training every day, go to practice every day. I had a goal of I want to play test cricket again and I was always looking at playing test cricket and every day, every morning I used to wake up thinking what I should do to reach that goal. Never losing that belief and having that target to reach was something that helped me. I'm honoured to wear this jersey and honoured to be representing my country" said Karun Nair.
"When I saw everyone for the first time, that's when I really felt that I'm finally in the team. Till then, it was like a wait for me to start feeling like I've made it again. It's a few years, I've always watched everyone on TV now to be back again in this dressing room. It feels amazing. Getting that first session under the belt was a relief. I'm grateful to get that opportunity. Life is a full circle because I went out of the team in England and now I'm coming back into the team in England. So it's been a while and I'm trying to embrace that" added Nair.
"Enjoy the feeling of being with everyone, enjoy the feeling of wearing this jersey, just going out there and having fun with everyone in the group and trying our best to win games for our country. Mentally, I'm more patient and I'm more forgiving of myself. I've learned to enjoy small things a little more, also not trying to be someone that I'm not. I've tried to keep it very simple, always think about the positive, have certain goals in mind, visualise things and have real belief in what you visualise" Nair also said.
Karun Nair also recalled his old days playing alongside KL Rahul and Prasidh Krishna, saying that it's a comforting factor for him.
"Playing alongside Rahul and Prasidh Krishna is also a very comforting factor because we've played cricket for so many years since we were young kids and grew up together. Don't chase perfection. Try and dream big. Have that belief in yourself that anything can happen at any point of time. Hi, this is Karun Nair, and I'm ready to go" concluded Nair.
It would be interesting to see Karun Nair's batting position in the first Test, since Gill will bat at number four there are chances that Nair will bat at number three and KL Rahul to take over Rohit Sharma's batting position to open alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal or Nair will feature as an opener and Rahul will bat at number three.
England's Playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Jamie Smith (WK), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.
India squad for England Tests: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana.
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