The 33-year-old India National Cricket Team batsman Karun Nair has said that his half-century in the fifth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy played a key role in the victory of the visitors.
Karun Nair also dropped a strong statement on India opener KL Rahul, who has his best-ever series with the bat against the England National Cricket Team.
I would say those 57 runs were equally important in that first innings – Karun Nair
In the first innings of the fifth and final Test match at the Kennington Oval in London, India lost openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul inside 15 overs, while Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, and Ravindra Jadeja were also not able to play good knocks.
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The visitors were reduced to 123/5 and eventually ended up posting a respectable score of 224 runs, thanks to a good innings from Karun Nair.
Nair, who didn’t have a memorable comeback to the Test team, delivered his best performance in that innings, scoring 57 runs off 109 balls, with 8 fours.
That knock played a role in India’s win, as they won by a small margin of just 6 runs, as Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna wreaked havoc in the final innings
Meanwhile, in an interview with RevSportz, Karun Nair was asked to share his views on his impactful half-century in the Oval Test and he replied:
“Yeah, at that time, I was very critical of myself and thought that I should’ve made a 100, but reflecting upon it later, I would say those 57 runs were equally important in that first innings. The game was at a very difficult position and it was obviously a very important game for us with the tricky wicket.”
I’m glad that I could get those runs for myself and for the team – Karun Nair
Karun Nair further said that he was very happy to get some crucial runs for India and to steer the team to a good score. He stated:
“I’m glad that I could get those runs for myself and for the team. We kept losing wickets at regular intervals and, like I said earlier, my whole process and focus were on building those small partnerships and helping the team get to a respectable total in that first innings.”
While talking about a picture that went viral on social media where KL Rahul was seen consoling Karun Nair when the duo were sitting on the balcony, the 33-year-old batter clarified that no such thing happened, and it was an AI-generated photo. Karun Nair said:
“I think that’s an AI (Artificial Intelligence)-created picture. We obviously were sitting on the balcony, but I don’t think that picture is real and I don’t think that happened at all. I think we should stop looking at these things. As a player, there isn’t anything we can do to stop these things, but just saying from my end that there isn’t any truth in that picture.”
He looks like a player who knows his game really well – Karun Nair on KL Rahul
KL Rahul finished the five-match Test series against the England National Cricket Team as the third-highest run-scorer, with 532 runs in his bag at an average of 53.20.
Nair was delighted to see Rahul’s batting masterclass, and he said that the batter knows his game very well and is enjoying spending time in the middle. He elaborated:
“And a word on KL (Rahul)… it is amazing to see the way he has approached this whole series. It looked like he came there with a plan, and for an opener to get over 500 runs facing the new ball day in and day out was sure not easy. But he made it look very easy, from the outside at least.
“The kind of starts that he gave the team was amazing. Really happy for him and I’m sure that he will want to keep doing these things and keep recreating these starts. He looks like a player who knows his game really well, and it looks like he is just going out there having fun and batting the way he knows.”
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