Watch: Karun Nair falls to Ollie Pope's stunner for a duck on Test comeback, faces brutal trolling

The 33-year-old India National Cricket Team batsman Karun Nair fell for a duck on his return to the India Test playing XI at Headingley in Leeds.

Nair was unable to trouble the scorers in the first Test of the five-match series against the England National Cricket Team and was dismissed by a stunning catch from the Englishman Ollie Pope on Saturday, June 21.

Also Read: Watch: Sunil Gavaskar goes 'superb, superb, superb' as Rishabh Pant does somersault celebration after epic Leeds ton

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Karun Nair cleaned up for a 4-ball duck

The 33-year-old returned to the Indian team after 8-plus years in the ongoing Test series against England following his consistent performances across formats in domestic cricket.

He came out to bat after the dismissal of skipper Shubman Gill and was unable to stay in the middle for very long. On the sixth ball of the 105th over, Ben Stokes bowled a full-length outswinger wide of the off-stump to Karun Nair.

The Indian batter went for a drive, but he was not fully onto his shot and ended up hitting the ball towards short cover where Ollie Pope dived full length to his left and grabbed an absolutely stunning catch with both hands. Nair looked disappointed after failing on his comeback, and he walked back to the hut dejected.

“He was looking to play a cover drive. Dangerous thing to do at the start of your innings. He would have been better off had he slashed at that delivery,” said Sanjay Manjrekar on air while commentating on JioHotstar.

Watch: Karun Nair falls to Ollie Pope's stunner

Ollie Pope... that is OUTSTANDING! 🔥

A flying catch to his left means Karun Nair departs for a duck.

🇮🇳 4️⃣4️⃣7️⃣-5️⃣ pic.twitter.com/Vlaugc7Bm3

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 21, 2025

Fans brutally troll Karun Nair for his failure:

Karun Nair 🤡 pic.twitter.com/44yLrqOVPM

— AVOID (@linus__05) June 21, 2025

Saaaar.... Karun Nair deserves more than Ruturaj Gaikwad saaaar. 🤡 pic.twitter.com/Ip1KQGZfIN

— TruthSpreader🌟 (@NotJustARutuFan) June 21, 2025

They benched this beast for dehati karun nair 🤡 pic.twitter.com/L1S1NIDOr5

— Viper¹⁸ (@269_GOAT) June 21, 2025

500 would have kept England out of the game but our clueless Karun Nair gone for a duck to trap us at 450

— Ashok Vihari (@Gubbinsolo) June 21, 2025

Bro forgot he is in India senior team, Karun Nair is there any cricket left in you really.🤣🤣🤣🤣#ENGvsIND #karunnair pic.twitter.com/6AYM7CoW6Q

— I'm Bihari (@happy_222467) June 21, 2025

Makarand Waingankar, an ex-cricket administrator, slammed Nair for playing a poor shot that led to his dismissal. He stated:

"Both Karun Nair and Shardul Thakur were a bundle of nerves. Karun's catch was brilliant but it was a poor shot because of his high anxiety level. I refused to bracket Shardul Thakur in the allrounder's category at this level. I think India will miss Kuldeep Yadav."

Both Karun Nair and Shardul Thakur were a bundle of nerves. Karun's catch was brilliant but it was a poor shot because of his high anxiety level. I refused to bracket Shardul Thakur in the allrounder's category at this level. I think India will miss Kuldeep Yadav

— Makarand Waingankar (@wmakarand) June 21, 2025

The veteran cricketer commentator Harsha Bhogle also expressed disappointment over Nair's flop show on his comeback. He stated:

"What a ride this game takes you through. The great joy of seeing Rishabh Pant produce that hundred followed by the immense sadness of Karun Nair's comeback getting stifled."

What a ride this game takes you through. The great joy of seeing Rishabh Pant produce that hundred followed by the immense sadness of Karun Nair's comeback getting stifled

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) June 21, 2025

Other than Nair, the young batter Sai Sudharsan was a new face in the Indian Test playing XI after the retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, and he too fell for a 4-ball duck while batting at the No.3. The failure of the duo would have left Gautam Gambhir-led team management disappointed.