Team India break silence on Karun Nair’s exclusion from Manchester Test: ‘Up to Gambhir and…’

Team India have finally broken their silence on not picking Karun Nair in the fourth Test match against England, despite captain Shubman Gill’s proclamation that the 33-year-old batter would be backed in his reign. Notably, the England tour was meant to be a redemption arc for Nair, but the batter could not convert his starts into big scores in the first three matches and was subsequently dropped by the management in the fourth Test, with the number 3 spot being taken up by Sai Sudharsan. 

Indian batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, while talking about the decision to drop Nair, said, “Selection is obviously up to Gautam Gambhir and the captain Shubman Gill, and even if I’m part of it, it’s not worth revealing. He [Gill] said that we’ll back him, which means that the way he (Karun Nair) has batted in this series—it hasn’t been bad batting. He’s gotten good starts each time. Sometimes, if the team management feels that at this stage, maybe in the fourth Test match, pressure might build on him (Nair), then we might make a change. But that doesn’t mean the team management isn’t backing him.”

Sudharsan, who replaced Nair in the match, scored his maiden half-century in the first innings while getting out for a first-ball duck to Chris Woakes in the second. The left-hander had also batted at the number 3 spot during the first Test match in Leeds but was promptly dropped for the second Test, creating confusion over who the new team management considers fit for the number 3 role. 

With Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma taking retirement from Test cricket, there has been a big vacuum in the Indian team, and Nair was hoping to fill that. However, it isn’t clear if the new management and selectors will continue to show faith in him beyond the tour of England.

From there on, KL Rahul and captain Gill stitched together a partnership for the next 62 overs to give India a chance to compete in this match. While a win may now be far-fetched for India, they can still try to tie the match by batting through all three sessions on Day 5.