IPL 2025: How Karun Nair is making the most of cricket's second chance

It’s not every day that the top performer of a losing team in the IPL bandwagon hogs much of the limelight, but then Karun Nair is an exception. After being the flavour of the 2024-25 domestic season which saw his adopted state Vidarbha lift the Ranji Trophy, the 33-year-old simply carried on from where he had left off with a blazing 89 off 40 balls for Delhi Capitals at the Kotla – a staggering strike rate of 222.50.

 After the game, a relaxed Karun struck a pose with wife Sandhya and their two children at the photographers’ request – looking very much a portrait of content family person at the home stretch of his career. Quite a contrast to the Gen Z newsmakers like a Abhishek Sharma, Priyansh Arya or Aniket Verma who strike a pose with their emotional parents after each innings these days, even though the hunger in them is the same.

 The effort from the classy Karnataka batter, only the second Indian after Virender Sehwag to hit a triple century in Tests back in 2016 before being consigned to the cold storage, stood out in terms of class and controlled aggression. It’s not easy to free one’s arms against bowlers of the calibre of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult but Karun did it effortlessly – with the smaller boundaries on both sides of the wicket proving to be an ally.

Records show that it was after a gap of 2521 days to be precise that Karun got a fifty in the IPL, the last one being in 2018 – and that too with a slice of luck paving the way for his break in the fifth game of the season. An injury to vice-captain Faf du Plessis meant Capitals needed a dose of experience and solidity at the top order and it looks Karun may not have to look back after such an effort at the key number four position.

‘’Yes, the knock is certainly satisfactory but I would have been happier if I could finish the match. We kept on losing wickets at regular intervals after my departure, but we will take the lessons from this game and move on,’’ remarked a composed Karun later. The buzz has already begun whether this innings will help in the recall factor for the national selectors when they sit down to pick the squad for the five-Test series in England, but for now, there is no stopping the Karun Nair 2.0.

A three-year-old social media post of Karun has, meanwhile, gone viral overnight when he had written: ‘’Dear cricket, give me one more chance.’’ The frustration was understandable in someone who, barely two seasons back, was cold shouldered by his own state team Karnataka and was being consigned merely as the reference point for his triple century. This is when his move to Vidarbha for the 2023-24 season came handy and the stocky right hander has not looked back ever since.

Usman Ghani, Vidarbha coachKarun (Nair) has also worked hard on his physical fitness and now hitting the ball as well as ever. He has got a good three-four years of international cricket in him and this form really serves as a reminder

While Karun’s dream sequence in domestic cricket last season – both in Ranji as well as Vijay Hazare Trophy had been out-of-this-world – his T20 game has also shown an upward trajectory. In the Maharaja T20 Trophy hosted by Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), he walloped 560 runs in 12 matches at an average of 56.00 with a strike rate of 181 - with a century and five fifties in 12 innings with a best score of 124. He also did well in the last Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, scoring 255 runs in six innings at an average of 42.50 with three centuries and a strike rate of 177.

 ‘’Karun has also worked hard on his physical fitness and now hitting the ball as well as ever. He has got a good three-four years of international cricket in him and this form really serves as a reminder,’’ remarked Usman Ghani, the Vadodara coach, in a chat with National Herald barely few months back.

 Well, the cricket god has certainly given him a chance and Karun Nair is making it count in the best possible manner.