Karun Nair continued his stellar run in the red-ball format as he completed a magnificent double hundred during the game between India A and England Lions at the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury on Saturday. Continuing from his overnight score of 186 runs, Nair looked resumed with the same comfort as yesterday this morning. He got to his landmark in 273 deliveries, which included 26 boundaries and one gigantic six.
Nair is no stranger to batting in English climes, having spent multiple stints with Northamptonshire. The experience shone through as he etched a typical hundred in these conditions, conforming to the well-worn tenets of giving the first hour to the seamers, under grey skies, the ball nipping both ways, before making hay under the blazing sun.
The strokes were exquisite, especially the cover drives, a fatal stroke in England and its secure execution the telltale sign of a batsman’s comfort. The big takeaways of his batting came at the start of his innings, when he exhibited the technical competence to survive the late-moving ball. He stood a couple of strides outside the off-stump, defended close to the body, late and with soft hands and seldom reached out for the ball.
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600-ball day practice
Coach Vijayakumar Madyalkar vividly remembers the sombre evening when his former Karnataka U-25 ward had checked into his academy with a desperate plea to revive his career. India’s second Test triple-centurion, Karun Nair, suddenly had nowhere to go after Karnataka – his domestic abode throughout his formative years – had landed a stunning snub after the 2022 season in June.
An emotional tweet in the winter of 2022 wouldn’t have been enough to tether the widening gulf between him and ‘Dear Cricket.’ Picking himself up, one watchful step at a time, Nair plotted his deeply personal attempt to fight back from the wilderness with Madyalkar and a WhatsApp group.
“Six months. Every alternate day, he used to come to bat 600 balls precisely, facing the side-arm throwers and other bowlers in our academy.”
Having seen the likes of KL Rahul and Nair since their age-group days, Madyalkar insists the duo stressed intensity and shot refinement above overt technical adjustments.
