Karun Nair breaks silence; slams chief selector Ajit Agarkar - 'I deserved more than a series'

Despite recent national team snubs, Karun Nair is determined to keep scoring runs, aiming to win games for his current team. He expressed disappointment at being overlooked after strong domestic performances, believing he deserves more opportunities. Nair remains focused on his game, with playing for India his ultimate goal.

Rajkot: Karnataka's Karun Nair plays a shot during the Ranji Trophy cricket match between Karnataka and Saurashtra, at Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot. (PTI Photo)(PTI10_15_2025_000155B)

Shivamogga: A month ago, on September 25 to be precise, when the Indian team was picked for the home Test series against West Indies, Karun Nair was back to square one. After a couple of stirring domestic seasons, his Test career got a second wind when he was picked for the tour of England after a seven-year hiatus. His returns during the series were a modest 205 runs. According to BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar, they ‘expected a little bit more’ from him in England. After the West Indies series snub, another blow awaited the 33-year-old, as he failed to make the India ‘A’ cut for the forthcoming two-match red-ball series against South Africa ‘A’ at home.

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Karun’s India recall was on the strength of the 1,553 runs he scored in the Ranji Trophy in the previous two seasons for Vidarbha. The 33-year-old is disappointed but far from done. He is back to doing what he knows best – piling on the runs. After scoring 73 and 8 against Saurashtra in the season-opener, Karun crafted an unbeaten 174 against Goa here on Sunday.

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Speaking after his innings, which he could not convert into a double hundred as he ran out of partners, Karun said, “There are certain goals that I’ve set for myself, which I wouldn’t want to talk about. But other than that, the primary goal would be to win games for the team.” The middle-order batter did not hide his disappointment at being ignored by the national selectors. “It’s quite disappointing (being dropped), but I know that I deserve to be there after the last two years (of domestic cricket) I’ve had. People might have their own opinions, but personally, my opinion is that I deserve a lot better.”

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While Karun did not address the issue of communication from the team management, he revealed, “Few individuals in the team have had good conversations with me about how they feel and that’s about it.” Karun is determined not to give up. “All I can do is keep scoring runs, that’s my job. There’s nothing much for me to say. I just keep telling myself that I deserve more than a series. That’s all I can tell myself, and not let that get into my head. All I want to do is to play for the country. That’s the only target. If you’re not able to do that, the next thing would be to try and win games for the side I'm playing for,” he added.

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