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33-year-old Karun Nair brought up his double-century on the second day of India A's first unofficial Test against the England Lions. He has made the most of his return to the India A team and will now be looking to punish the English bowling attack even further as the play continues.
Nair was included in India A's squad for the England series after having a sensational 2024/25 campaign in domestic cricket. The batter starred for Vidarbha in both the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Ranji Trophy. In the former tournament, Nair scored 779 runs in just eight innings and followed that up by scoring 863 runs in only nine matches in the latter. Nair was a key figure in the Vidarbha squad that beat Kerala in the Ranji Trophy final.
Karun Nair made his return to the India squad after eight years
Following these stunning performances, Nair also got back into contention for the India Test squad. The sudden retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from the format lead to the selectors looking for replacements and this opened the gate for Nair's return.
He went on to get included in India's 18-member squad for the upcoming five-match Test assignment against England. Though there were doubts as to if he would find a place in the playing XI, the double hundred against England Lions will likely see him get included in the team for the first Test.
Nair reached the milestone in the 101st over by hitting Eddie Jack for a boundary. He has so far hit 26 fours and a six in his innings and has turned out to be the catalyst for India A putting up a huge first inning total on English soil.
This knock will definitely give him loads of confidence ahead of his return to international cricket after eight long years. He will also get a good idea of the English conditions ahead of the important series that is set to kick-off the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
Elsewhere, Dhruv Jurel also impressed but missed out on a century as he was dismissed for 94. Sarfaraz Khan had also missed out on his ton on Day 1 after he was sent back to the pavilion by Josh Hull for 92 runs.
Overall, the India A batters have so far performed exceptionally well and have pushed the English bowlers to the back-foot. Their priority will now be to take their total over the 500-run mark as soon as they can. Following that, a declaration can very well be on the cards as well.
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