Karun Nair breaks silence on Ajit Agarkar’s remark that shut doors on his India career: 'Deserved more than a series'

On the back of his magnificent run in the Ranji Trophy 2024/25 season, and amid India lacking experience in the top order after the sudden Test retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Nair was added to the squad for the tour of England. He instantly vindicated the selection with a double century in the pre-series India A tour game, but failed to convert it in the five-match Test series. He scored 205 runs in four matches, with a solitary fifty to show.

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Nair was subsequently overlooked for the Duleep Trophy, the India A series against Australia A, and the Test series against the West Indies earlier this month. More recently, he was also left out of the India A contest at home against South Africa A, confirming that the selectors are unwilling to fall back on him for future selections.

But none affected Nair's focus. Returning to the Ranji Trophy for Karnataka, Nair smashed 73 and 8 in the first round, before clobbering an unbeaten 174 against Goa on Sunday. Following the knock, Nair said he was disappointed with the way things had turned out, adding that after the last two years, he felt he deserved more than just a single series and that while opinions from others do get to him, his focus remains on scoring runs.

“Obviously, it is quite disappointing. After the last two years I’ve had, I think I deserved a lot better. More than a series," he said. “There are certain individuals in the [Indian] team who have had good conversations with me about how they felt. That’s about it. It does get into the head. But the second thought would be to do your job, which is to score runs and let people have their opinions.

“Honestly, what target can I have next? All I want to do is to play for the country. If you’re not able to do that, the next thing would be to try and win games for the side you are playing for.”

Earlier this month, Agarkar explained Nair had underwhelmed in England, scoring just one fifty in four Tests, and noted that while they would like to give every player more chances, that isn’t always possible.

He said: "We expected more from him (in England). He played four Tests, and there was just one fifty. We would like to give 15-20 chances to everyone, but unfortunately it does not work that way.”

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