Former Delhi Capitals (then Delhi Daredevils) captain Virender Sehwag has criticised Karun Nair for two dropped catches of Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain Shreyas Iyer that turned out to be costly. Chasing a mammoth target 266, PBKS faced slight hiccups when they lost Nehal Wadhera’s wicket. It was followed by Iyer going for big hits with Shashank Singh still new at the crease. Vipraj Nigam and Kuldeep Yadav created chances but Nair couldn’t complete the catches. Iyer punished DC for it and finished the run chase in the penultimate over. Sehwag feels that dropping catches has a bad impression on the captain which is likely to play a part when he picks the team.
"It is just not acceptable. Firstly, you are not getting matches. And now when you have a chance as a fielder, at least do some fielding. If you drop catches even there, then the captain will think that since he dropped catches, let us not pick him. All of this happens. Just because you are a batter, batting is not your only job. Picking catches, and completing run outs are also your jobs," Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
Earlier in the game, Shashank Singh dropped KL Rahul’s catch early on and he went on to become first Indian batter to score 150 in IPL history.
DC skipper Axar Patel blamed dropped catches for the loss in a high-scoring contest where they had already lost Lungi Ngidi’s services due to an injury. Nair came in as substitute fielder after a fatigued Rahul left the field. Tristan Stubbs took over the wicketkeeping gloves which led to Nair fielding at long-on and long-off.
No Nair in Sehwag’s DC Playing XI
Sehwag also said that had he been captain of DC now, he wouldn’t give Nair one more chance.
"Sorry to say, but Karun Nair, you came in just to field, dropped two catches, and because of those two drops, you lost the game. If I am the captain, and he is a very important player, and drops two catches, I can ignore that. But if he is not in the playing XI, and asks me for a chance, I will say that you are not playing because of the dropped catches. He will not have any answer for that," he added.
Just one game for Nair in IPL 2026?
Nair has played just one game this season. Batting at no.3 fell for a single-digit score to Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) Bhuvneshwar Kumar at his homeground. Nair has been named one of the five potential substitutes but hasn't played as an impact player since. Until and unless there is an injury to one of the batters, he is unlikely to get picked as Nitish Rana scored a 44-ball 91 against PBKS.