Vidarbha's Karun Nair has turned heads with his top notch batting in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-2025. It won't be an exaggeration to say the Vidarbha captain is in form of his life. His superlative performances in domestic cricket have shattered records and propelled him into serious contention for a spot in India's Champions Trophy squad. Following his string of impressive performances in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Nair has opened up about his aspirations. He revealed that the dream of representing India continues to fuel his motivation and drive him to excel.
The 33-year-old still has a dream to represent Indian yet again at the international level. He emphasized his commitment to focusing on each individual innings, ensuring he gives his utmost effort in every match.
The dream is always to play for the country: Karun Nair
"The dream is always to play for the country. So, yes, the dream is still alive. That's the reason we play this game, to play for your country. So, the one and only goal was to play for the country. I think this is my third comeback (laughs). And I need to keep doing what I am doing at the moment. Keep scoring runs whenever I can in every single game that I play. That's the most that I can do. Everything else is not in my control," Karun was quoted as saying by PTI.
"But till it (selection) happens, it's just a dream. It's still not there yet. But again, like I said, I would like to focus on one innings at a time," he added.
Nair was further questioned about the specific changes he implemented to achieve his current level of success. He attributed his improved performance solely to consistent hard work, making it clear that he hasn't done anything differently. Instead he said that it's just years of hard work and persistence which is yielding the result.
"I've not done anything differently. There is no secret. I think it's just years of hard work and persistence, you know, the coming together of all of it. And probably you can say, taking each day as a new one and making sure that I respect every single innings that I play," Karun further said.
Nair acknowledged that during periods of poor form, he diligently returned to the basics and diligently worked towards improvement. He emphasized the importance of maintaining a positive mindset, even when facing challenges with the bat.
"I will be lying if I say I was not afraid. I think anyone would have those feelings. But I never had the thought that my career would end. I just had the thought of where it is going? What am I doing? How has this happened?. It takes a while for you to come out of that phase and to understand what is happening and then what you are supposed to do. So, I told myself that I need to start from zero again. And give myself a few years and see where it goes. And then I can decide what to do. So, that was my thought process" Karun concluded.
Talking about Nair's stunning batting show, in eight matches, he has amassed an astounding 752 runs at an incredible average and strike rate of 752 and 125.96 respectively riding on five centuries out of which four came back-to-back Nair currently leads the tournament's run-scoring charts. He holds record of scoring the most runs in List A cricket without being dismissed. He guided Vidarbha to Vijay Hazare Trophy final after emphatic win over Maharashtra.
As far as his track record in international cricket is concerned, Nair has represented India in six Tests and two ODIs. He has amassed 374 runs at an impressive average of 62.33 in Tests, including a memorable triple century. Meanwhile, in limited-overs cricket, he has scored 46 runs in two ODIs, averaging 23.