Karun Nair got opportunity on his home ground in Bengaluru

Karun Nair, whom many thought should have played the first test match against Australia as well, finally got his opportunity on his home ground in Bengaluru, but, disappointed his fans as well as his mom and dad watching from the stands.


Both his dismissals in the match were because of him playing the wrong shots and given the kind of competition for the middle order spots in the Indian test team at the moment, this might have been a big opportunity missed by the Karnataka right hander.

Nair had comfortably managed to get into his twenties in the first innings, but, he then charged Steve O’Keefe which would have been a good option if he had timed his charge well and had been fully committal to it.

The first mistake that he made was that he jumped out way too early and O’Keefe got the indication of that. So he negotiated the length accordingly and secondly Nair’s charge was pretty half hearted as well.

He could perhaps have opened the face of the bat and looked to play it in to out rather than just offering the face of the bat through the line. The ball could still have gone past him, but, that shot would have been understandable.

But, the shot that he ended up playing was a nothing shot really as it gave the impression that he left the crease without any intent and was only interested in defending the ball and that did not make too much sense.

Second time around, when he came in to bat on the fourth day, he would probably say in his defence that he got a top class delivery first up and that’s somewhat true. The new ball hooped in from the line of the centre pole and took off his leg pole.

But, that was again due to the inexperience of Nair. He should have known that he was facing a new ball and the bowler was making it talk. So, a drive was not on there and he should rather opt for a forward defensive shot planting his front foot straight down the pitch and keeping the bat together with it, closing the gap between the bat and the pad completely.