Karun had made a comeback into the Indian Test side after eight long years on the tour of England.
When India’s squad for the recently held home Test series against the West Indies was announced last month, there was a notable omission in it.
Karun Nair, who made a comeback into the Indian Test side after eight long years on the tour of England, failed to make the cut into the 15-member squad.
In the squad announcement presser, BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar had categorically stated that Nair failed to meet the team management’s expectations during the England tour. The 33-year-old played four Tests of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, amassing 205 runs with just one half-century to his name.
With the Indian team management and selectors known to give players enough backing, it was expected that Nair would get one more series to prove his mettle but that wasn’t the case as he was sidelined and Devdutt Padikkal was given the nod ahead.
Furthermore, the right-hander was left out of the India A contest at home against South Africa A, confirming that the selectors have decided to move on from him.
However, Karun Nair is not ready to give up so easily as he vowed to keep piling up runs in domestic cricket to force selectors to keep him in reckoning for an Indian team spot.
Returning to the Ranji Trophy for Karnataka, Nair scored 73 and 8 in the first round, before smashing an unbeaten 174 against Goa on Sunday (October 26).
“Obviously, it is quite disappointing. After the last two years I’ve had, I think I deserved a lot better. More than a series," Nair said, as quoted by Hindustan Times.
“There are certain individuals in the [Indian] team who have had good conversations with me about how they felt. That’s about it. It does get into the head. But the second thought would be to do your job, which is to score runs and let people have their opinions.
“Honestly, what target can I have next? All I want to do is to play for the country. If you’re not able to do that, the next thing would be to try and win games for the side you are playing for,” he added.
Earlier this month, Agarkar had explained the rationale behind dropping Karun Nair from the Test squad after just one series.
“Frankly, we expected a little bit more. He’s played four Tests, but we’ve spoken about just one inning. It is the way it is. We feel we need a little bit more at this point. We wish we could give everyone 15 or 20 tests, but it doesn’t work that way," Agarkar told reporters.