It’s been nearly 3000 days since Karun Nair last played for India. Having made a triple century in what was just the third Test of his international career, the middle-order batter quickly fell out of favour after managing three more matches. His stint, which began on November 26 in 2016, lasted four months as the team moved on. Since then, he has been grinding it out in domestic cricket, talked about his disappointment at missing the bus and pleaded with the game itself to give him another chance to show his wares.
India batter Karun Nair has made his comeback into the national squad after almost 3000 days since he made a triple century in his third Test match, The middle-order batter quickly fell out of favour after managing three more matches. His stint began on November 26 in 2016, and lasted four months as the team moved on. Since then the batter is featuring in domestic cricket.
Nair recently made headlines when he scored 863 runs across nine games in the Ranji Trophy. Soon after his knocks, the cricketing fraternity started demanding his national comeback. As Team India are currently in a transition period with legendary batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retirement and the spot for number four was left vacant, and as chief selector Ajit Agarkar says, the experience of Karun Nair made him make a dramatic, but not a surprising call into the Indian team.
"Grateful to get back, happy and proud and fortunate. Found out (about inclusion in the squad) like all of you found out. Was eagerly awaiting the call, got a lot of messages from close ones. Have been batting well in the last 12–16 months. It's about keeping my processes the same and do the same things that have worked for me," Nair was quoted as saying by Lokmat Times Nagpur.
The five-Test match series is scheduled to start from June 20 and this will be India's first red-ball assignment after a 3-1 defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Australia.
| India vs England five-match Test series full schedule | ||||
| Test | Date | Venue | City | Time |
| 1st | 20th June | Headingley | Leeds | 3:30 PM IST |
| 2nd | 2nd July | Lord's cricket ground | London | 3:30 PM IST |
| 3rd | 10th July | Emirates Old Trafford | Manchester | 3:30 PM IST |
| 4th | 23rd July | Edgbaston | Birmingham | 3:30 PM IST |
| 5th | 31st July | Kennington Oval | London | 3:30 PM IST |
India squad for England series
Shubman Gill(C), Rishabh Pant(vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Parishdh Krishna, Akashdeep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav