India’s recently-concluded Test series against England was one of its kind. A 25-year-old was leading the side, the average age of the squad was 26 years old, and one of the key highlights was a batter
making his international comeback after 8 years.
Karun Nair, the man who pleaded to cricket to give him another chance in 2022, finally got one in 2025. Following a stellar domestic season, the 33-year-old was drafted into India’s squad for the 5-match series in England. He landed in the playing XI for the series opener in Headingley, but to his disappointment, the start to his campaign wasn’t favourable. He bagged a duck and then scored 20, 31, 26, 40 and 14 before getting dropped for the 4th Test.
But Nair didn’t give up. He returned at the Oval, scored a valiant 57 on a track that troubled most of the Indian batters in the first innings, and his contribution helped India win the fixture by 6 runs.
Following a successful tour of England, Nair revealed how head coach Gautam Gambhir backed him at every point.
“Gauti bhai was someone who gave us a lot of encouragement and support. I can talk for myself that he really gave me the confidence to go out there and give it my best. So, the whole focus was to go out there and play the way I know, to play for the team in any situation that I was in,” Nair told RevSportz.
Not just player-specific, but Gambhir kept the team united throughout the tour. Nair said the head coach had instilled a sense of putting the team ahead in every player.
“From day 1 itself, the whole messaging has been about putting the team first and putting all the efforts into beating England in England. The whole goal of the series was to do something special as a team. It was inspiring, this message coming from him from day 1, and everyone bought into it, which you must have noticed as the series progressed,” he added.
