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On September 25, chief selector Ajit Agarkar announced India’s 15-member Test squad for two-Test series against West Indies at home. One of the notable omissions was veteran batter Karun Nair who made his Test comeback after eight years but could not retain his place after an unimpressive England tour. When asked about his exclusion, Agarkar said that the selectors and the team management expected more from Nair. He has been replaced by Devdutt Padikkal in the side.
“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 told the reporters in Dubai in a press conference.
Nair played four Tests on England tour and scored 205 runs at an average of 25.62. He batted at different positions, including no.3 but could score just one half-century which came at Kennington Oval, London, the final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025.
It seems like the selectors have moved on from Nair. He won't feature in the Irani Cup as he has left Vidarbha to play for his former team Karnataka.
Nair, India’s second triple centurion in Test cricket, hasn’t had a good run in international cricket. From 10 Tests, he has 579 runs at an average of 41.35. If not for the unbeaten 303, he has 276 runs from 14 innings.
Padikkal’s numbers in recent years -
Padikkal has been in good form of late. He registered scores of 57 and 16 not out for South Zone against North Zone in Duleep Trophy 2025 semifinal. He scored 150 for India A against Australia A in the ongoing unofficial Test series. However, he was dismissed for one run in the first innings of the second unofficial Test.
The last time he played Test cricket was in Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. He made his Test debut against England last year. From three innings, he has 90 runs including a half-century.
India Test squad for West Indies Test series -
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, Narayan Jagadeesan (wk), Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav.
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