India batter Karun Nair opened up on his non-selection in the Rohit Sharma-led squad for the upcoming Champion Trophy 2025 despite performing well in domestic cricket. The batter was in the form of his life during the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) he scored 779 runs for Vidarbha in eight innings at an average of 189.50.
Karun smashed five centuries in eight innings and with that, he became the candidate for India's middle order in the showpiece event however, India selectors picked KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer for middle-order batting.
Karun played two ODIs in 2016 during the India tour of Zimbabwe where he scored 46 runs. After that, the middle-order batter faded out from the India squad.
“Obviously, the possibility of an India comeback has to be on your mind. If you want to play for the country, you have to keep dreaming. There are these thoughts and dreams in the head but that’s just motivation," Nair said in an interview with the Hindustan Times.
“The mindset comes from the hunger to keep getting better every single day when I go out to play. To not be happy with what you’ve done in the past to keep looking forward to doing better in the future," he added.
Meanwhile, India's chief selector Ajit Agarkar explained the rationale behind not picking Nair in India's Champions Trophy or ODI squad. He said that the selection committee had a chat about Nair but they think it's difficult to fit in everyone in this squad. However, they hinted that he could be considered if there is any injury in the team.
“We had a chat about Karun Nair. But it’s difficult to fit in everyone in this squad. If there’s an injury, there could be a discussion around him,” Agarkar said in the press conference in Mumbai on January 18.
Champions Trophy 2025 is scheduled to start from February 19 and India will start their campaign on February 20 against Bangladesh at Dubai International Stadium in Dubai.