India vs England 4th Test Playing 11: On December 2022, India batter Karun Nair had tweeted, “Dear cricket, give me one more chance.” The post had quickly became viral and was a rallying cry for the batter who ultimately scratched and clawed his way back into the India set up for the ongoing England tour after being 8 years away. But the comeback hasn’t yielded a fairytale innings as of yet with the batter failing to convert his starts in the first three Tests against England, leading to the visitors falling 1-2 behind in the 5-match series.
In 6 innings, the Vidarbha player has 131 runs at an average of 21.83 and a high score of 40 runs. In the first 3 matches he has scored 0, 20, 31, 26, 40 and 14 at a strike rate of 52.61. With the 23-year-old Sai Sudharsan waiting in the wings, time might be running out for Nair in the race to make it to the 4th India vs England Test in Manchester, scheduled to start next week.
Former India player Ravi Shastri pointed out that in the recent match at Lord’s, Nair had suffered a huge lapse in concentration while batting.
“Having said that, again at 40/1 [in the second innings], I thought that was a huge lapse in concentration from Karun Nair to leave a straight ball, a nothing ball, to leave it and open the door for England. I thought that the timing of that dismissal turned things around,” said Shastri on the ICC Review.
Former player Deep Dasgupta, meanwhile, said that it might be time to give a chance to Sudharsan in place of Nair in the 4th Test.
“You don’t want many changes in the Playing XI. If you have to make one, it’ll be Sai Sudharsan for Karun Nair. It’s not like Nair hasn’t made runs. He has got starts but hasn’t converted them into big scores. He also didn’t look very comfortable while batting either. The thing that goes in Sai’s favour is that he is a young player. He’ll gain experience playing in England which will be beneficial in the long run. If you have to invest in someone, it’ll be on a young player. While Karun has gotten starts, he hasn’t looked convincing. So if you have to invest, you would rather invest in a younger lad like Sai Sudharsan. We don’t know when you’ll be back in England so if you have 2 matches remaining, invest in Sudharsan,” Dasgupta said.
However, former India spinner Anil Kumble feels that Nair should retain his place in the side for the Manchester Test.
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“I don’t want to make too many changes because I think India have played a fantastic game. Yes, they lost by 22 runs. Unless injuries, we don’t know about Rishabh Pant,” Kumble said on Follow The Blues.
“He (Nair) certainly keeps his place. He did enough in the first innings. In the second innings, it was probably a brain fade, but he was batting well. That partnership was crucial,” he added.
Even before the third Test, however, former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar had said last week that he did not align with the Indian team management’s thoughts around the batting order despite their comeback win against England at Edgbaston. He opined that dropping Sudharsan and playing Nair at No.3 wasn’t the way to go.
“There were some very interesting selections made in the last game, which I didn’t agree with. In the end, a win can put a cover on those decisions. I thought Sai Sudharsan, after just one match, to be left out considering he is a young player that we are looking at the future. He played pretty okay in the second innings. I’d like to stick with him but this team management is not afraid to chop and change depending on the vibe,” he had said on ESPN Cricinfo.
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“But I would like to see Sai Sudharsan at number three. Karun Nair is not a number-three player in my book. It is unfair to drop him after one Test if everyone is getting big hundreds. I think Sai deserves that opportunity as well,” Manjrekar had added.
