Karun Nair Will No Longer Get A Chance? India Coach Says: "Want More..."

Karun Nair's outing in the England vs India series has not been great. After three Tests at Headingley, Edgbaston and Lord's, Nair has tallied only 131 runs at an average of shade below 22. It is not that Nair looked completely out of place in all three games, facing a total of 249 deliveries, but there seemed to be a distinct problem when it came to handling quality pace and seam movement in tandem. It took eight years for Karun Nair to don India jersey again but 25 days into his second coming in Test cricket, the Karnataka batter is facing a stern test.

Indian cricket team assiatant coach Ryan ten Doeschate have cleared the air over Karun Nair's position in the side The assistant coach said the team remains in good spirits despite losing two Tests they were in a position to win. "That might be counter-intuitive when you're 2-1 down in the series. But we feel like the guys have been excellent for large parts of the series. The repetition of losing lots of wickets in a very short space of time has obviously been the key feature of the two losses.

"Probably both times in Headingley and obviously overnight and first thing in the morning at Lord's, we feel cost us the game was losing six wickets for 40 again. But if you look at it individually, if you look at the run tally of all the batters they're all batting nicely," he said.

"Even someone like Karun, we feel his rhythm is good, his tempo is good. We want more runs from the three. But the message is mainly, let's really focus on what we've done well and tidy up the little things that have cost us results, essentially," Ryan ten Doeschate added. 

Batting at number three, India expect solidity from Nair, who gate-crashed into the national team after piling up a mountain of runs on the domestic circuit.

With India trailing 1-2 in the five-match series and the next game still a week away, the management needs to take a call -- stick to Nair or invest in the much younger Sai Sudharsan who got the rough end of the stick having been left out of the playing eleven after his debut game.

The elegant left-hander did not do much wrong to be excluded, and it was done to accommodate an extra batting option at number eight.

Almost a month later, Nair making way for the 23-year-old Sudharsan at Old Trafford could be the only change in the eleven as India look to level the series in the game starting July 23.

Former India wicket-keeper Deep Dasgupta, who is commentating on the series, says it may be time to bring back Sudharsan, who is more likely to return to England in four years' time than Nair.

"You are still in it very much in the series so because even this Test match at Lord's was extremely close. It could have gone either way," he told PTI.

"But what I would be looking at is at number three. Would Karun Nair still continue or you want to invest in a young player like Sai Sudharsan who looked comfortable in the last innings that he played in that first Test match? He is young and investment for the future.

With PTI inputs 

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