 "Karun Nair: A cricketer with 3 test innings, many records")
The ongoing five-match test cricket series between England and India has been one of many finds for India, even as the dominance of established names cannot be undermined. While the first three matches saw some outstanding performances by skipper Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, the fifth tie will be remembered for long for stellar performances by two relatively new players in the side.
Chennai’s M A Chidambaram Stadium, better known as 'Chepauk', first became witness to K L Rahul’s innings of 199, ending only one run shy of a well-deserved double century. And then, even before Indian fans’ jubilation had cooled, you had an unbeaten triple century (303*) by Karun Nair guiding India to its highest ever innings total of 759 for 7.
Rise of a new star
Karun Nair, a middle-order batsman from Karnataka, has already scripted history at 25 years of age by joining the stalwart Virender Sehwag in the elite club of Indian triple centurions. Until now, Sehwag had been the only Indian to score more than 300 runs in a test match innings. That Nair is the quickest in the history of the game to score a triple hundred — he took only three innings to reach the milestone — speaks volumes about this young man’s potential as a star. In doing so, he broke the record of England’s Len Hutton, who had taken nine innings to achieve the feat.
When Nair first turned up for India in a test – the third match of the India-England series in Mohali from November 26 to 30 this year – it had not exactly been a dream test debut for the youngster. While in the first innings he scored only 4 runs off 4 balls before being run out by J C Buttler, in the second he did not get a chance to bat; the match had been won before his turn to bat would come. His second appearance – in the fourth test match from December 8 to 12 in Mumbai – was hardly better. Nair had scored only 13 in the first innings when he was trapped leg before wicket by Moeen Ali. Since India won this match by an innings and 36 run, there was no second chance here for Nair.
However, the young man seemed to have made up for the two missed opportunities before by smashing 32 fours and four sixes in his historic innings of 303*. Addressing the media after the Chepauk test, Nair said: "After getting the hundred, pressure was off. So, I just played my shots normally. I am happy that I got the runs. There was no extra pressure that I put on myself."
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"They say make hay as the sun shines. So, I think I wasn't thinking much about it. And we are had already won the first three matches. They (England) were already out of the game. I don't know how they are feeling right now but I am just happy that I got the runs; I made the most of it," he added.
Nair, who currently plays for Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL), scored at a healthy rate, too. His strike-rate of 79.52 is the third-fastest among all triple-centurions in the history of cricket. Also, his score is the highest ever by an Indian against England in Tests. It is also the highest score by an Indian batting at the number 5 slot, surpassing former test skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 224 against Australia in 2013.
Nair’s 303 is now the third-highest individual score in a test innings by an Indian batsman. Ahead of him is former ace opener Virender Sehwag, who scored 319 vs South Africa in 2008, and 309 vs Pakistan in 2004.
Interestingly, former India captain Dravid, often referred to as the Wall of Indian Cricket, is known to have been instrumental in grooming Nair for the national side. Impressed by his good strike rate in the limited-overs format, Dravid had roped him in for the Rajasthan Royals IPL squad in 2014.