Karun Nair relishes lifelong dream

NEW DELHI: In a star-studded batting line-up consisting of KL Rahul, Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey it is tough for any other batsman to make heards turn, but Karun Nair of Karnataka always had the knack to come up with a stellar performance to attract attention. That quality of the 23-year-old has caught the eye of the national selectors and has earned him a maiden international call-up after just two seasons of domestic cricket.
As replacements for the injured Murali Vijay and Wriddhiman Saha, Karun and Madhya Pradesh custodian Naman Ojha have been called up for the third Test against Sri Lanka. Talking to TOI sports after the news broke, Karun said the call-up felt great.
"I got the news an hour back and I am feeling really great. It's a dream come true for me. I have been batting really well and have been converting my starts so I am in a good frame of mind. It is a dream for every player to represent your country and am really excited and looking forward to the opportunity" said Karun, who is in Waynad with the India A team.
Karun played a pivotal role for Karnataka in the last domestic season, scoring a record-breaking 328 in the final against Tamil Nadu in Mumbai. He became only the second player in Ranji Trophy history to score a triple hundred in the final after Gul Mohammad, and proved his critics wrong after a below-average season leading up to the final.
After bursting on the domestic scene with two centuries in the knockout stages of 2013-14 Ranji Tophy season and a stellar IPL for Rajasthan Royals, Karun had to endure failure throughout his second season. The middle-order batsman managed just one score of over 50 in his 14 Ranji Trophy innings in the 2014-15 season. He got starts regularly and looked solid in the middle but got out to the most innocuous deliveries in the 30s.
"It was frustrating at the start but I knew I was just one innings away," Karun spoke of his lean phase.
And against Tamil Nadu, in the final, that one innings came and the Rajasthan-born player stepped up to the plate with an innings of a lifetime and after scoring 114 for India A against South Africa A in the first unofficial Test at Waynad, Karun is all set for the next step up.
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