Karun Nair, the Indian batter, will be under pressure heading into the third Test at Lord's. Despite getting ample time and opportunity in the first two Tests, Nair failed to make an impact.
Karun Nair's scores in the Test series so far are 0, 20, 31 and 26 runs in the four innings. He has got starts in three innings but failed to make it big when the opportunity came his way.
Fans criticised him when he was chosen ahead of Sai Sudharshan who was dropped just after his first Test. Nair faced 54 deliveries in the second innings of the first Test at Headingley, which is the most he has batted in this series so far.
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Take A Call After Six Innings - Aakash Chopra On Karun Nair
Karun Nair is yet to score more than 40 runs in a Test innings since his triple hundred against England in 2016. In this series, he has scored 77 runs in four innings not having done justice to his selection.
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has spoken about Karun Nair ahead of the third Test at Lord's and said that he deserves one last chance.
“I would say give Karun Nair one more chance for sure, because this is now Karun Nair’s final chance. He played earlier, scored a triple century, and then got dropped. It was slightly unfair at that time,” Nair said on his YouTube channel.
“Then he scored a lot of runs and returned to the team. He asked cricket to give him a second chance. He went to Vidarbha, and cricket gave him a second chance. However, at some stage, that story will also end, and this is the match. In the first two matches, we have seen glimpses that he can bat well, but he hasn’t scored too many runs,” he added.
Nair was promoted to three in the second Test after Sai Sudharsan was dropped and Washington Sundar replaced him in the XI as India wanted to go ahead with an extra spinner. Chopra said that six innings are a true parameter to judge Nai's numbers in the series and he thus deserves one more chance.
“He was kept and Sai Sudharsan was dropped. I would say give him a minimum of one more Test match. Then it will be six innings. You can take a call after six innings. When you are giving a chance to a player, err on the side of giving one extra game than one fewer. Comebacks don’t happen easily. Give him enough chances to fail or succeed,” Chopra said.
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England Announce Playing XI For Lord's Test
Meanwhile, England have named their playing XI for the third Test against India with Jofra Archer returning to the Test side for the first time since 2021. Gus Atkinson was not included despite having good numbers at Lord's.
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