Time to take Karun Nair’s signal of ‘nine’ seriously after a dream season

Vidarbha kept their date with the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 at Nagpur, but it’s their import Karun Nair who has been the flavour of the Indian domestic season which ended on Sunday. A Facebook post sums it up aptly: ‘If Karun Nair does not get into the flight for the England Test series, then let’s stop domestic cricket in the country.’

 An emotional outburst by all means, but the question that begs to be asked is: what else the 33-year-old batter and the country’s only second triple centurion in Tests needs to do for a second coming into the national fold? It was back in 2016, when someone like a Shubman Gill was yet to turn up for the Under-19 World Cup that Nair took his bow but had his journey ended after just six Tests.

 Only yesterday, Nair’s celebration of ‘nine’ – when he showed nine fingers towards the Vidarbha dressing roon after completing a patiently crafted century against Kerala and his ninth this season – had gone viral. Five of them came at the Vijay Hazare Trophy where he accumulated 779 runs from nine games while four have come in Ranji with an average well over 50. The incredible run in the 50-overs contest of Vijay Hazare raised serious hopes of him being considered for the home ODI series against England, but Nair maintained that he wanted to play in Test matches again.

During a chat with National Herald, the Karnataka star who switched allegiance to Vidarbha last year, said: ‘’I want to play Test matches again and I am trying to find ways to do that. I played County cricket over last couple of years and enjoyed it thoroughly and my mindset now is to score runs from as many opportunities as I can.’’

This was in January as Karun had been precisely doing what he likes best – though he regrets missing out on a century in the first innings of the Ranji final when he was run out against Kerala for 86. However, he made amends on the fourth day with an unbeaten 132 – an innings which ended soon after the final day began. His effort of 135 came off 295 balls with 10 fours and two sixes as Vidarbha kept their date with the premier red ball title of the country by virtue of a first innings lead.

Speaking after fourth day’s play, Karun confided: “Yeah, of course, I was very disappointed I got run out because I knew that it was there to take, the hundred. I felt I (had) missed out. I was really determined to make it count. But the second innings are never easy because of the wicket deteriorating, playing on the fourth day. It’s never easy. I had that in the back of my mind. I wanted to go out there and put my full efforts,” he said.

The next red ball assignment for India will be the five-Test series in England as they begin their next World Test Championship (WTC) cycle with it. To say Karun has made a strong case for himself will be an understatement – and the onus will be on the selectors to find a way to ensure such a prolific form and consistency in domestic cricket does not go unrewarded. Otherwise, all the hype over making the top cricketers play in Ranji will sound rather self-defeating.

Was he signalling the ‘nine’ for his teammates or in an overt message for Ajit Agarkar and his men? “I’d been speaking about it before this match that I’ve got eight (centuries), if I score another one, I’ll show nine,” Karun said.

 “I was just speaking to some of our sidearm throwers, Yash Thorat, who always help us with batting and everything. We were speaking and I said to him that if I do score a hundred, I'll show him the nine, so it was discussed.’’

 ‘’You can take it however you want,’’ he concluded. Are the selectors listening?