Veteran India batter Karun Nair stood his ground and scored a valiant half-century against England on the first day of fifth Test. The 33-year-old returned back to the dugout unbeaten on 52 as the Men in Blue finished the day on 204/6. Notably, Nair had been dropped for the fourth Test after only managing to score a total of only 131 runs in his previous six innings in the series. Washington Sundar formed an important stand of 51 runs alongside Nair and the two will be resuming India's innings on Day 2.
Following Nair's gritty knock, former England cricketer and Delhi Capitals batting coach Kevein Pietersen revealed how the India batter had spent hours talking about batting on English soil. Nair's services had been acquired by the Delhi-based franchise for INR 50 lakh in the 2025 IPL auction and ended up playing eight matches for the side throughout the season.
“So happy for Karun and how he’s stabilised India’s batting yesterday. He’s a tremendously hard worker on his game and we spent many hours talking about batting in England during the IPL. I’m hoping he gets a wonderful 100 today!” Pietersen posted on X.
This is Nair's first Test series for India in 8 years
Nair had made a return to India's Test set-up after eight years of absence with the ongoing series against England. This came after the batter had a spectacular domestic season for Vidarbha. Though the 33-year-old's first six outings proved to be rather disappointing as he failed to replicate his form from the domestic circuit, his fighting fifty at The Oval showcased that he still has a lot of fight left in him. Nair will now be looking to continue batting in similar fashion as the action resumes on Day 2.
Meanwhile, the Indian batters failed to cope with England's brilliant seam bowling and didn't have a great first day at The Oval. The likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja and Dhruv Jurel all got dismissed for cheap as the visitors got restricted to 153/6 at one stage. On the other hand, both Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue picked up two scalps each while Chris Woakes also chipped in with one as the hosts made the most out of the bowler-friendly pitch.