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Hindustan Times
12-06-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
'How lonely it was...': BCCI all but confirms Karun Nair's return to XI; India's final training session hints at line-up
It wasn't just one, but a double assurance that all but confirmed Karun Nair's return to India's playing XI after nearly eight years. The middle-order batter is set to play his first match for India since the 2017 Dharamsala Test against Australia, in the upcoming five-match series against England starting June 20 at Headingley. First, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) posted a video on Nair with a "special message" from teammate KL Rahul. The video was captioned: "A comeback story with Karun Nair. P.S. - A special message from KL Rahul." In the clip, Rahul welcomed his former Karnataka teammate with a heartwarming message, in which he opened up about how he prepared himself for the series against England. "I've known him for a very long time and the months that he spent here in the UK playing cricket and how hard and how lonely it was and for him to be able to do all of that and come back into the Indian team. think it's special for him, for his family, and for friends like us who've seen his journey. So, like I said very inspiring as well and hopefully his experience and his learnings from playing county cricket here will hold him in good stead when he plays the Test matches here," he said. Nair played just six Test matches for India, following his debut in 2016, scoring 374 runs at 62.33, which includes a career-best knock of 303. The veteran batter, who earned his selection this time on the back of a record Ranji season, vindicated the call with a double century in the first match for India A earlier this month, followed by scores of 40 and 15 in the second game. "Feels really special. Very grateful and very fortunate to be able to get this opportunity again and really looking forward and excited to grab this opportunity with both hands," said Nair. "Not sure actually! I think I'll have to experience that feeling myself and, you know, just go out there and feel it for myself. And I'm sure there'll be a lot of feelings, ones that I can't express right now and It'll be a special feeling." With the BCCI clip almost confirming Nair's return, fans could not keep calm as they thanked the Indian board for acting on the senior batter's three-year-old appeal. In 2022, Nair had taken to social media to post, 'Dear cricket, give me one more chance.' A post shared by Team India (@indiancricketteam) If it wasn't just the BCCI clip, India's final training session before the intra-squad match in Beckenham hinted at the possible batting line-up for the series against England. India did a bit of fielding practice on Thursday, with Rishabh Pant as the wicketkeeper, while the slip cordon featured Karun Nair at first slip, followed by KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, according to a report in RevSportz. Nair is set for a return if the team goes by the slip cordon. Although his batting position is yet to be seen, with few experts reckoning he could replace Virat Kohli, who retired from Test cricket last month, at No. 4.
NDTV
12-05-2025
- Sport
- NDTV
Rohit Sharma's Test Journey: An Average Middle-Order Batter To A Fine Opener
Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from Test cricket and bid farewell to a fine career which was divided into two distinct halves. He was a very mediocre middle-order batter for the first 27 matches of his Test career with a batting average of just under 40. However, just like in ODI cricket, his fortunes changed dramatically when he was pushed to open for the country. From the Visakhapatnam Test of 2019 till the Dharamsala Test of 2024, Rohit - the Test batter averaged 50 and was not only one of the premier openers in the world but also the leading batter for India in the format. The Struggle Outside India Rohit had a great start to his Test career with two hundreds in his first two appearances for India - against West Indies in Kolkata and Mumbai - but then witnessed a major slump in whites for India. He scored just 1585 runs in his first 27 Tests at an average of 39.6. Rohit had a very high Failure Rate of almost 50% and crossed the three-figure mark on just one more occasion in this time-frame - against Sri Lanka in Nagpur in 2017 - four years after his debut! Although he still had outstanding returns at home, Rohit had shocking numbers outside India scoring just 816 runs in 18 away Tests at an average of 26.3. He did not have a ton outside the country. Though a modern great in limited-overs' cricket, he was at the crossroads of his long-form career and time was running out fast for Rohit - the batter. The Vizag Twin Tons Rohit had a horrendous tour of South Africa and that was followed by a tough tour Down Under. The clamour for seeing him out of the Test XI increased. With his career in the doldrums, Rohit was pushed to open for India as the very last resort. It turned out to be a masterstroke. Rohit made the opportunity count and how! He smashed a ton in both the innings of the series opener against South Africa in Vizag, becoming the sixth Indian batter to achieve the unique feat. The stunning performance gave rise to Rohit Sharma - the Test opener - and unleashed another chapter for India in Test cricket. The Domination as Test Opener From the Vizag Test in October, 2019 till the end of the home series against England in Dharamsala in March, 2024, Rohit - the Test opener - rose to new heights and was amongst the premier top-order batters in the world! He was the leading run-scorer amongst all openers in the world in this time-frame and piled on 2552 runs in 32 matches at an average of 50.03 with nine centuries and 7 fifties. Amongst the 15 openers who scored at least 1000 runs in a minimum of 10 Tests played in this period, only Dimuth Karunaratne (52.4) had a higher batting average than Rohit during this period. No opening batter recorded more tons than Rohit's 9 in these four and a half years. Timing & Context of Performances Rohit's rise as a Test opener coincided with a turbulent time for the Big 3 of India in the format. Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane had a poor run in 2020 and 2021. Kohli had an average of 26.1, Pujara - 26.2 and Rahane - 25 in this period and the onus was on Rohit to step up and make it count. Rohit towered above all other Indian batters in this time-frame (2020-2021) scoring 906 runs in just 11 Tests at an average of 47.68! His 161 off just 231 deliveries England in Chennai in 2021 (India were 0-1 down in the series) is widely rated amongst the greatest hundreds by any batter on Indian soil. Rohit played 20 Tests at home between Vizag, 2019 and Dharamsala, 2024 and hammered 1633 runs at an average of 54.43 and strike rate of 65.4. No Indian scored more runs than Rohit at home in this time-frame. The rate at which he scored his runs was also significant as not only did it demoralized the opposition bowlers but also created enough time for the Indian bowlers to bowl the opposition out twice. The Overseas Transformation While Rohit always had a fine record in India, the big change in his Test career came in his overseas performances. He scored 919 runs in 12 Tests at an average of 43.76 with two centuries and five fifties away from India in this period. From his opening partnership with Shubman Gill in Brisbane and Sydney to his 83 in the massive win at Lord's to finally recording his first overseas hundred - in the Oval Test of September 2021, Rohit the opener grew in stature and contributed to some of India's most significant wins away from home during this period. Rohit suffered a major dip in his form in the last eight Tests of his career and scored just 164 runs in 15 innings at an average of 10.93. These included two home Tests against Bangladesh and three against New Zealand and three away Tests in Australia. However, his most significant achievement in the longest format was the contribution he made as opener - raising his game, under pressure when the chips were down for India in the period between October, 2019 and March, 2024 - a period when most of the other Indian batters struggled, Rohit rose to the occasion and scored tough runs when his team needed him the most. And that is his biggest legacy to Indian Test cricket!
