I Hardly Got a Few Chances After the Triple Hundred - Karun Nair

In today’s cramped cricketing schedule, one year is not a very long duration in a cricketer’s career, but for Karun Nair it indeed is.

Just a year ago, Nair was all over the news after becoming the second Indian to score a triple century in Tests after the legendary Virender Sehwag. The last year was perhaps the most memorable one for the right-handed batsman so far.

He made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in July after churning out runs on a consistent basis in the domestic cricket. Three months later, he captained Karnataka and a month later, made his Test debut before scoring a triple century in only his third Test and also becoming only the third man in the game’s history to convert a maiden Test ton into a triple.

However, things went only downhill for the Karnataka star in the following months. He lost his place in the team after the dismal outings against Australia at home, where he returned figures of 26, 0, 23 & 5 in the four innings.

The 26-year old is still waiting to get a recall from the national side and believes that putting too much pressure on himself was the reason behind his poor performances. He also said that contrasting fortunes of 2016 would help him in his career in the coming days.

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“I started expecting too much from myself. It took me a long time to realise I was being too hard on myself. It came to a point when I had to do something about it, and the best thing I could do was to let go,” Nair told The Times of India.

“I started playing cricket like I did when I was a schoolboy. I started enjoying middling the ball. I’m still working on it because it can’t change in a couple of months. Now, I’m not into numbers, or even if I don’t do well, I know there is another game coming up. In the past year, I have seen the highest of highs and lowest of lows. Good that I have experienced all that in the early stages of my international career. Going forward, this one year will help me improve my game and get me stronger mentally. I’ve learnt unforgettable lessons,” he added.

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The Karnataka star, who scored a sublime century in this year’s Ranji Trophy semifinals also admitted he was disappointed over not being recalled to the team for the upcoming series against South Africa.

“I’m disappointed that I didn’t make it to the 17 for the tour of South Africa. The past year, I’ve got a triple hundred and then a few hundred on the domestic circuit. I thought I had some good knocks backing me. It took me the last couple of days to get over it. It did affect me in the last match, the quarterfinals against Mumbai,” he said. “I was really unhappy about my mindset in that game. I shouldn’t have allowed my disappointment affect my game.”

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He went on to rue the fact that he did not get many chances to prove himself after the triple century and said he would do better when he gets another chance.

“I hardly got a few chances after the triple hundred. I’m waiting for another opportunity and I know when I get that, I will be better than what I was a year ago. This year, I have worked harder than I have worked ever before,” he said.

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