Will Karun Nair’s return to the IPL improve his chances of a Test recall? | Cricket News
A bevy of interviews throughout the last semester during his phenomenal all-format domestic run have rounded off Karun Nair’s leaves, slogs and routine blocks off the field too.
Decked up for his first media interaction in Delhi Capitals colours on Sunday, three microphones strapped to his collar with a string of cameras locked in, Nair reflected on the return to the IPL franchise and downplayed the eight tumultuous years in between. “Just being a little older, I’d say. Other than that, I don’t think anything much has changed. Obviously, it was the Delhi Daredevils back then, and now it’s the Delhi Capitals,” he said with a light chuckle.
Even after moving heaven and earth on the domestic charts in an almighty push to don the India cap again, Nair cannot afford complacency to creep in. That he has done enough in a spell-binding 2024-25 season with Vidarbha. That a red-ball call-up would present itself when India ready their squad for the five-match Test tour in June to England – even years after he tantalisingly missed a recall in the country before being dropped again.
Karun Nair in action for Vidarbha. (FILE photo)
So despite his compelling six-month streak with 1,897 runs and nine centuries across formats for Vidarbha, concluding with a Ranji Trophy title, Nair realigns his focus to the IPL and does not want to get ahead of himself.
“At least I think I’m closer (Test return) rather than further. I don’t know how close I am. It’s at the back of the mind,” he says.
“But the only focus right now is to prepare well and understand what I need to be doing in the IPL and contribute in every game that I play,” says Nair, aiming for his first IPL match in five years.
Chalk and cheese
While a Test call-up and an IPL bid are chalk and cheese, mutually exclusive events, the two have developed an intriguing tether in the timeline that has followed Nair’s Test debut in 2016. 29 players have bagged their Test caps after Nair in the format. Only three of them – starting with Hanuma Vihari who pipped Nair at the Oval in 2018 – made their Test debuts without an active IPL contract. Andhra wicket-keeper KS Bharat and Sarfaraz Khan are the others who made a less glamorous entry into the Test side.
Indian cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara. (FILE photo)
The 10 other batters who have debuted in Tests in the period will likely stroll into an IPL XI of their respective sides today. Four of them bear captaincy duties in IPL 2025, while another leads the national T20I side.
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Save for the veteran Cheteshwar Pujara, who played 103 matches between his first Test appearance in 2010 and his last in 2023, no Indian player has excelled in Test cricket while being a passable commodity in the IPL since its inception 16 years ago. It could all be a coincidence too. Or maybe not?
Shortly after a sparkling IPL 2023 season where he recalibrated his striking abilities in the format, Pujara’s long-time teammate Ajinkya Rahane won a brief lifeline into the Test side for the World Test Championship final that followed, 18 months after being dropped for poor form. Earlier the same year, Suryakumar Yadav’s T20I X-factors won him a Test cap during the home Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The allure of the IPL system continues to attract the First-Class cricket grinders. Bengal batter Abhimanyu Easwaran, who has often come close to the Test cap this decade without success, recently expressed the sentiment.
“I’ve seen a lot of cricketers get into the IPL and come back as better players. But whether that is a disadvantage or an advantage, I cannot comment on that. But again IPL is different because you are sharing the dressing room with a lot of greats and there is a lot of learning there. It is not about where you are playing, but who you play with,” Easwaran told the Indian Express last year.
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As Nair returns to the two-month summer madness, he does not want to bear the odd pattern in his head. “For me, it’s about continuing what I’ve done in the domestic season and taking each opportunity as it comes and making full use of it. I’m not looking at it from any angle as such.”
At 33, an IPL gig after a considerable gap in his profile reads differently for Nair. “I think it means that I can go out there with a lot of freedom and play my game and try and express myself in whatever role that I’m given. I have a really relaxed state of mind now,” he remarks.
There might be minimal room for an immediate top-order role for Nair in a Delhi batting compartment comprising Faf du Plessis, KL Rahul, Jake-Fraser McGurk, Tristan Stubbs and Abishek Porel.
While the forthcoming IPL season isn’t ideally make-or-break for a parallel scenario of a potential Test ticket to England in two months, the tournament could offer the final push.
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“As long as you’re doing well, you have to be prepared for the highs. I guess I should be prepared for whatever comes, highs or lows. I’m not thinking too much about it, just trying to prepare well now,” he adds.
“I feel I’m ready. I’m trying to take the confidence from the season that I’ve had into the IPL.”
