“If you don’t think you’re going to play for India again, would you be interested in signing a longer-term contract with us as an overseas professional to play all formats?”
John Sadler, the then-head coach of Northamptonshire County Cricket Club, asked this very question of Karun Nair in 2023.
Nair’s reply was firm, as he said: “I want to play for India, and I’m going to do everything I can to play Test cricket again. Until that dream is over, I’m not even going to consider anything else.”
Now aged 33, and after last playing for India in 2017, Nair has been recalled to the India Test squad for the upcoming series against England, which starts in Leeds on Friday.
He marked his return with a thumping double century against England Lions in one of two warm-up matches late last month.
Nair made headlines in 2016 when he scored an unbeaten 303 in just his third Test, becoming only the second Indian cricketer to score a triple century.
But after playing just three more Tests, he lost his place in the India side. Over time, his international dreams began to fade. In 2022, he was even dropped from Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy squad, probably the lowest point in his cricket career.
“After missing the entire domestic season, he was very upset. He came to me and asked, ‘What do I do? I will do whatever it takes,'” recalls Vijayakumar Madyalkar, Nair’s long-time coach.
“He is such an intelligent cricketer, so I didn’t have to tell him anything about his mindset. He is also quite fit, so I didn’t have to tell him to work on his fitness either. So the only thing he had to do was refine his skills.”
Determined to turn his fortunes around, Nair began travelling two hours every alternate day from his home in Bangalore to Madyalkar’s academy, taking guidance from a coach who has known him since his under-16 days.
“Till he was fully satisfied, he would never come out of the net. He used to play around 600 balls in every session, practising all the shots in the book. He worked so hard and just wanted to bat and bat for hours non-stop,” says Madyalkar.
“He was never casual in his approach, not even for a single ball he faced in the nets. He worked tirelessly on his fitness and other skills as well.”
After months of grinding, Nair was keen to get back on the field but there was no cricket to play in India, so he decided to sign as an overseas player for Northamptonshire in England, a decision that proved pivotal.
“Overseas players who come here with a point to prove, we usually get the best out of them,” says Sadler, who worked closely with him at Northants. “Karun had scored a Test triple hundred for India but hadn’t played in a while. He was hungry and determined to make an impact.”
Known for his calm nature, Nair instantly took up the role he was assigned by Northants.
“The thing that stood out was how calm and composed he was,” Sadler recalls. “In his first game at Edgbaston, the pitch was green, it was seaming, swinging and nipping.
“Some of our batsmen were finding it tough out there, wickets were falling. He came in and he played unbelievably calm. He left the ball incredibly well. And then, when it was time to attack, he attacked. So his game just looked in fantastic order.”
The right-handed batter scored 249 runs in three matches, including a commanding 150 against Surrey, prompting Northamptonshire to sign him again for the subsequent year.
In 2024, he stepped up again, scoring 487 runs in seven matches, including a double century. But it wasn’t just the runs that stood out.
“His attitude was magnificent. He worked so hard and was very professional. He was there for every training session, and when it came to batting in a match, he was just so focused and never gave his wicket away,” says Sadler, now assistant coach at Yorkshire.
Though Nair had piled on runs in domestic cricket back home as well, his stint with Northants helped put him firmly back in the national reckoning.
“County cricket is relentless, game after game, not much rest. You play on a real variant of pitches,” says Sadler. “Sometimes it might be flat, sometimes it might turn, sometimes it might be green, and it might be overcast.
“With two stints that he did for us, I think he got to play and put his skills under pressure for all those different conditions. It really helped him.”
Even India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir acknowledged the role county cricket played in Nair’s return.
“It’s always good to have the experience of Karun. He played county cricket there, and he is in superb form. His experience will come in handy,” Gambhir said during India’s pre-tour news conference in Mumbai on 5 June.
With a 204-run knock against the England Lions in Canterbury earlier this month, Nair is expected to slot into India’s middle order for the first Test at Headingley.
His coach, for one, is confident.
“I think Karun will definitely play the first match because he is more experienced in playing there,” Madyalkar says. “He will score a hundred.”
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