Veteran India batter Karun Nair is set to make a return to Karnataka for the Ranji Trophy 2025/26 season after completing his stint with Vidarbha in the last campaign. He has been named in Karnataka's squad for their tournament opener against Saurashtra that will begin from October 15. This comes after the 33-year-old was recently dropped from India's Test squad for their two-match series against West Indies.
Notably, Nair had played a pivotal role in Vidarbha's Ranji Trophy campaign last year, scoring a total of 863 runs, including two centuries and four half-centuries. He played a massive role in making Vidarbha the Ranji Trophy and even played a brilliant knock of 132 in the final against Kerala. Nair was also the star performer for Vidarbha in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and finished the tournament with a total of 779 runs.
Nair didn't impresson India return
These stunning performances saw Nair get recalled to India's Test set-up after eight years of absence. He was given a place in the Men in Blue's squad for the five-match Test series against England and even ended up playing in four games. However, he failed to impress with his performances and finished the series with 205 runs from eight innings. He was then dropped for the West Indies Test series with selection committee chief Ajit Agarkar stating that the selectors had expected more from Nair in the England assignment.
“We expected more from Karun Nair in England. It cannot be about just one innings. Devdutt Padikkal offers more options to us. We want to give at least 15-20 chances to every player but it is not possible every time,” Agarkar said at a recent press-conference.
Who is Karnataka's captain in Ranji Trophy?
Meanwhile, Nair will be playing under the leadership of Mayank Agarwal, who will be leading the Karnataka side in their Ranji Trophy opener. The squad includes more notable players like Shreyas Gopal, Vijaykumar Vyshak and Abhinav Manohar.
Karnataka's squad for Ranji Trophy match vs Saurashtra: Mayank Agarwal (captain), Karun Nair, R Smaran, KL Shrijith (wk), Shreyas Gopal, Vyshak Vijayakumar, Vidwath Kaverappa, Abhilash Shetty, M Venkatesh, Nikin Jose, Abhinav Manohar, Kruthik Krishna (wk), KV Aneesh, Mohsin Khan, Shikhar Shetty.