Last Played For India 8 Years Ago, Batter With Average Of 664, Back In Selection Fray: Report

"Dear cricket, give me one more chance," said Karun Nair in a post on X (formerly Twitter) in December 2022 after seeing his cricketing career nearing a heartbreaking end. However, the middle-order batter turned things around dramatically over the next 12-13 months and is reportedly back in the fray for national selection. Nair's case remains one of the most interesting in Indian cricket. He scored the famous 303 against England in Chennai, yet couldn't become a central figure in India's plans for the longest format. However, with an exemplary performance in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign, Nair's astonishing numbers have forced the Ajit Agarkar-led national selection committee to stand up and take notice.

Dear cricket, give me one more chance.

Over the last 6 innings in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, a domestic 50-over competition, Nair has aggregated scores of 112*, 44*, 163*, 111*, 112*, 122*. He is yet to be dismissed in this edition of the tournament, having accumulated over 600 runs without getting out.

His heroics with the bat also put him top on the list of most runs scored by a batter in the history of List A cricket without being dismissed. He is also only the second batters to score five centuries in a single edition of the tournament after Tamil Nadu's Narayan Jagadeesan. So far, only three batters have managed to record four consecutive centuries in List A cricket, with Nair being one of them.

"It was an emotional moment when I put that tweet," Nair told the Indian Express his unbeaten 122 and an unbroken 200-run stand with Dhruv Shorey (unbeaten 118) for Vidarbha against Rajasthan.

"For six-seven months, when I didn't play any cricket, all I did was travel three hours a day just to have a net session. I