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Karthik’s straight talk on Agarkar moving on from Karun Nair: ‘He played in one of toughest series. If he was playing…’
Dinesh Karthik reflected on Karun Nair’s tough return during the England tour, pointing to the difficult conditions and challenging pitches.
Karun Nair has hit another roadblock in his international career after being dropped from the Test team after the England tour. He was snubbed from the home Test series against West Indies, after he failed to make much of an impact in the England series. The right-handed batter made his return to the Indian Test set-up after 2016 but only managed to score 205 runs in four Tests, at an average of 25.62, with a highest score of 57 in the final Test at The Oval. After the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the selectors showed faith in Nair for the tough England tour, but he failed to make much of an impact.
Former India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik reflected on Karun Nair’s tough return during the England tour, pointing to the difficult conditions and challenging pitches. While Nair struggled in the opening Tests, Karthik praised his fighting fifty in the final game and acknowledged the harsh reality that selectors are moving on.
“The fact that Karun Nair is not looked at any more means they are moving on from him, which is very tough on him. I think he played in one of the toughest series on tough pitches. But in all fairness, he’ll look back himself and say, ‘Could I have scored more runs in a couple of innings at the start, in the first three Tests?’ Because in the last Test, he got a 50 on a tough pitch,” said Karthik.
However, Karthik came out in support of Nair and said that if Nair had been picked for the West Indies, he would have got the runs expected from him on the England tour, but it seems like India has decided to move on from him.
“I can promise you if he was playing this series, he would get runs. It’s almost a given, the way he’s batting. The fact is they are saying, ‘Big series, we have him an opportunity and he didn’t deliver. So we move on to somebody young for the future’," he added.
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“Devdutt Padikkal earned his recall into Indian team”
Meanwhile, Devdutt Padikkal has been called back into the Test team, replacing Karun for the West Indies series. The left-handed batter was part of India's squad for last year's BGT in Australia; however, he missed out on the England tour due to injury.
Karthik praised Padikkal’s consistent performances and said the young batter has rightly earned his recall to the Indian team.
“I really feel Devdutt being given an opportunity is a good thing because he has got 80 in Australia (for India A last year). He’s got skills because Australia is a very hard place to play and he got runs there. And the England series last year, he got a 50 in Dharamsala. So he has earned his stripes. He got injured and that’s why Karun Nair came into the squad. Otherwise Devdutt would have been part of the squad from day one in England. So he has earned his recall into the Indian team,” said Karthik.
