‘I don’t want to be where I was a couple of years ago’ – Karun Nair reflects on his struggles ahead of first Test

Karun Nair described the end of 2022 as the darkest phase of his cricketing career. The 33-year-old has made a remarkable return to the Indian Test squad after an eight-year absence, following a string of impressive performances in the domestic circuit in recent years.

Nair admitted that he has never wanted to revisit the painful period when he struggled to comprehend why he was dropped from the Indian team shortly after scoring a historic triple century against England in 2016. With the upcoming Test series against England, there is a strong possibility that Nair will feature in India’s playing XI for the first Test at Headingley, Leeds.

“In terms of incidents, I would say, it was quite a dark place at the end of 2022. Very emotional phase for me. I think it was the toughest time for me. Even tougher than 2018, or whatever, whenever that was,” Nair said to Ravichandran Ashwin on his YouTube channel.

“No. I don’t want to be where I was a couple of years ago, quite honestly. I think at the moment, at least I am very grateful. Like you said, I have gotten past that complaining stage. Very grateful to be in the situation that I am and I just treat every day as something that’s given to me, and I am living my life and doing what I love. I am very grateful to everyone that has been part of my journey in the last 2-3 years at least. I have understood to value things. I have understood to value each moment and just treat every single day as a new day,” he added.

Nair conceded that he was left confused after being dropped from the Indian team. The right-handed batter believed he would be part of the squad for the Sri Lanka series in 2017 but was unable to make sense of what was happening around him.

“Honestly, I couldn’t understand what was happening. Because after the 300 in Chennai, after the Australia series, I think the next series was in Sri Lanka in 2017. I wasn’t part of that squad either. And from then on, I couldn’t understand what was happening. Then I had to go back to domestic cricket,” Nair conceded.

Nair believed that a strong performance against Australia could have secured his place in the team. He admitted that if he had converted his starts into big scores, he might not have found himself in that situation.

“I had no clue what was happening. All I knew was my name wasn’t there. I couldn’t understand how it wasn’t there. But if I look back and think that there is one side of me saying that ‘yes, I didn’t get too many opportunities’. But the other way I would also think is the four innings that I played against Australia, and I got a couple of starts. If I had just converted those starts into bigger scores, maybe I wouldn’t be in this position or had to have gone through that,” Nair stated.

I was young and confused: Nair

Nair shared that he struggled to control the thoughts running through his mind during that difficult phase. He admitted that at the time, he was young and coming off a strong domestic season, but despite that, he was not given many opportunities to prove himself.

“Just figuring out how I should go about things and what I should be doing. Obviously, I was a lot younger at that time and couldn’t probably control what was running in my head like I am able to do today. So, basically, just a confused mind and was trying so hard to get back that I think I just kept getting worse. But I had a great season that year in domestic cricket and I was able to come back like I said in the 2018 season. And then again, went back there. Didn’t have too many opportunities,” Nair said.

Karnataka team felt like family: Nair

Nair acknowledged that the support he received from the Karnataka team was invaluable during his tough times. He conceded they were like family to him, even though he was not having a great season then. He appreciated that they never put any pressure on him despite his struggles with form.

“I think there has always been a great bond between the players in Karnataka. Because we all played together from a very young age. And all of us made the grade at the same time, if I can say that. So, there was always support. There was never anyone, you know, lacking that support. They have always said good things. They always knew the player that I was. So, I always had the trust from the players in the Karnataka team at least,” Nair said.

“So, to go back there, it again felt like a family. And obviously, it didn’t have a great season. But that happens to anyone, I would think. And yeah, it’s just everyone felt or everyone supported me. Like I said, it’s like a family. And everyone was caring. And they never put any undue pressure on me in terms of, ‘oh, I wasn’t scoring’ or no one really came up to me,” he concluded.

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