Former India cricketer Dinesh Karthik feels that the selectors are moving on from Karun Nair after the latter wasn't included in the Men in Blue's squad for the upcoming West Indies series. After almost eight years of absence from the side's Test set-up, Nair was finally given a second chance in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England. However, he failed to make much of an impact in the five-match series and was only able to score a total of 205 runs in 8 innings.
Karthik further claimed that Nair would have scored a lot of runs in the series against West Indies if he was picked in the playing XI.
“The fact that Karun Nair is not looked at any more means they are moving on from him, which is very tough on him. I think he played in one of the toughest series on tough pitches. But in all fairness, he’ll look back himself and say, ‘Could I have scored more runs in a couple of innings at the start, in the first three Tests?’ Because in the last Test, he got a 50 on a tough pitch,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
“I can promise you if he was playing this series, he would get runs. It’s almost a given, the way he’s batting. The fact is they are saying, ‘Big series, we have him an opportunity and he didn’t deliver. So we move on to somebody young for the future’" he added.
Padikkal in as Nair's replacement
However, Karthik also believes that including Devdutt Padikkal into the squad over Nair is the right choice following the latter's recent performance for India A against Australia A in red-ball cricket. Notably, Padikkal breached the 3000-run mark in first-class cricket with a century in the first unofficial Test of the two-match series against the Baggy Greens and ended up impressing the selectors with his performance.
“I really feel Devdutt being given an opportunity is a good thing because he has got 80 in Australia (for India A last year). He’s got skills because Australia is a very hard place to play and he got runs there. And the England series last year, he got a 50 in Dharamsala. So he has earned his stripes. He got injured and that’s why Karun Nair came into the squad. Otherwise Devdutt would have been part of the squad from day one in England. So he has earned his recall into the Indian team,” Karthik stated.
Notable inclusions in Indian team
Meanwhile, India's 15-member squad for the West Indies Tests was announced on Thursday. Except for Padikkal, Narayan Jagadeesan and Axar Patel have also been included in the squad. With Rishabh Pant out injured, Dhruv Jurel is likely to keep the wickets for the Men in Blue. Additionally, Ravindra Jadeja has been appointed as the side's vice-captain for the assignment.
India's squad for West Indies Tests: Shubman Gill (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (vc), Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Narayan Jagadeesan (wk), Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav.