On day two of the Ranji Trophy 2025-26 clash at the KSCA Navule Stadium in Shimoga, Karnataka batter Karun Nair
scored an unbeaten 171 off 267 with 14 fours and one six, to help his team get up to 371 runs in 110.1 overs against Goa. Following his 25th hundred in first-class cricket, the 33-year-old broke silence on being dropped from the Indian Test team, saying that he “deserves more than a series”Notably, Karun Nair played four out of five Test matches against England away from home to determine the inaugural winner of the newly minted Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. While the series ended in a stalemate at 2-2, the right-handed batter wasn’t able to convert starts into big scores, accumulating 205 runs in eight innings at an average of 25.63
with a fifty to his name at The Oval in London before being overlooked for the home Test series against West Indies earlier this month.
His return to the Indian Test team after seven years didn’t last long and the reason from Indian chief selector Ajit Agarkar about his omission was about how they “expected a little bit more” from him in overseas conditions in England. Apart from missing the West Indies home Test series, Karun Nair was also not picked in the India A squad for the four-day two-match series against South Africa A, starting on October 30 in Bengaluru.
I just keep telling myself that I deserve more than a series: Karun Nair
The Jodhpur-born cricketer wasn’t pleased about the decision from Indian selectors to drop him from the Test team after giving him a chance in just one series in England. He was quoted as saying, as per Times of India, “It’s quite disappointing (being dropped), but I know that I deserve to be there after the last two years (of domestic cricket) I’ve had. People might have their own opinions, but personally, my opinion is that I deserve a lot better.”
After talking about how he has had “good conversations” with few individuals in the team, Karun Nair stated that he will keep on trying to score as many runs as possible in domestic cricket, to get picked in the Indian Test team once again. He remarked, “All I can do is keep scoring runs, that’s my job. There’s nothing much for me to say. I just keep telling myself that I deserve more than a series. That’s all I can tell myself, and not let that get into my head. All I want to do is to play for the country.”
“That’s the only target. If you’re not able to do that, the next thing would be to try and win games for the side I'm playing for,” he added.
