INTERVIEW
Follow UsA lot can change in a year.
As Karun Nair braces himself to lead the Mysore Warriors in yet another Maharaja Trophy campaign, it is worth revisiting this time last year.
Somewhere around August 2023, Nair was forced to leave Karnataka after spending no less than a decade with his home state — at the professional level alone.
The India international had no idea where he was headed to next, and his career was pretty much at a crossroads.
It was at this point that Nair’s career took a turn for the better, and it was a stellar campaign at the 2023 Maharaja Trophy that was integral to it. Batting at No.3, the right-hander, who was captain of the Mysore Warriors, finished the competition as the highest run-getter, hammering 532 runs in 12 innings.
He amassed runs like an absolute machine, passing the 30-run mark nine times in 12 innings while playing one of the knocks of the tournament against Gulbarga Mystics in the semis, smashing 107* off just 42 balls.
From this point onwards, one thing led to another, and soon, Nair found himself back on track in no time, rediscovering the touch that once made him one of the finest batters in the country.
A year on, ahead of the third Maharaja Trophy season, the 32-year-old reflects back on his performance in Karnataka’s premier T20 competition last year, which proved to be a turning point for him.
“I think it was a lot down to good preparation,” Nair tells Cricket.com in an exclusive chat, speaking about the upturn in fortunes he had in the 2023 edition of the Maharaja Trophy.
“Mentally, physically and skill-wise, I was really happy to start the tournament well. I rode on that momentum throughout the tournament. You always want to contribute to the team’s success; I was happy that my performances helped the team get to the final.”
The 32-year-old, however, endured a heartbreaking end to the campaign last year, with the Warriors falling short by eight runs against Hubli Tigers in the final.
But he’s someone who’s been around the professional world long enough to know that sport is all about bouncing back.
“It was unfortunate that we couldn’t go one step further, but if we do get the opportunity [to fight for the title] again, we will try and get the trophy,” he says.
When it rains, it pours. Life is like that for some reason. And so, less than two weeks after the final of the 2023 Maharaja Trophy, Nair found himself playing in the first division of the County Championship for Northamptonshire.
Different format, different country, different quality, yet Nair batted with the same panache he showed back in Bengaluru and, remarkably, even managed to ramp up the run-scoring.
He began his Northants career with a gritty 78 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston and followed it up with a blistering 150 against a stacked Surrey attack that included Kemar Roach, Dan Worrall and Jamie Overton, among others.
Northamptonshire unfortunately got relegated to the second division in 2024, but Nair continued his prolific run-scoring, amassing 487 runs in the seven games he played. This included a blistering 202* against Glamorgan, which came off just 253 balls.
“It’s been an amazing experience. I’m very grateful to Northamptonshire for giving me the opportunity to play there. It’s highly competitive cricket,” Nair says, reflecting on his time in England.
“The conditions are different from Ranji Trophy, the ball is different from Ranji Trophy. So it’s been a really good experience for me.”
Nair believes that, just like him, every batter back home will benefit immensely from having a County stint.
“County cricket is something I would recommend every Indian batter to go and experience - you learn how to play the swinging ball and bat in tough conditions,” Nair says.
“For me to have done well in those conditions gives me a real confidence boost that I can go out of India and do well.”
‘I was forced into leaving Karnataka’
In August 2023, prior to the start of the 2023/24 domestic season, Nair ended his 11-year association with his home state Karnataka and moved to Vidarbha.
In many ways, the move did not come as a surprise, considering Nair hadn’t played any cricket for Karnataka after June 2022.
But as much as everyone would like to believe that Nair left Karnataka by choice, he didn’t.
“Honestly, yes, it was a different feeling to leave Karnataka and go play for Vidarbha. It was different but it was something I had to accept and move on,” Nair says, reflecting on the state switch.
“I would have preferred not to make such a drastic change, but I was forced into that decision for various reasons which I myself don’t know.”
But the move to Vidarbha has worked out really well for the batter, who is not just a three-format regular for the side but also an integral part of the team’s batting unit.
In his first full season, Nair top-scored for the side in Ranji Trophy, amassing 690 runs at an average of 40.59. He proved to be an absolute rock at No.4, racking up two centuries and a 90 while scoring at least 34 runs in 53% of the innings he batted.
But why did he pick Vidarbha of all states?
“I wanted to play for a team that can win trophies or has the potential to [win trophies], where I can also have a hand in the success. That was my whole intention of going to Vidarbha. I’m really happy that it has worked out really well,” he reveals.
Nair’s debut season for the state almost proved to be a fairytale, with Vidarbha making it to the final of the Ranji Trophy while eliminating Karnataka along the way.
But the Akshay Wadkar-led side fell in the final hurdle against Mumbai, slipping to a 169-run defeat.
In the final, after bowling Mumbai out for 224 in the first innings, Vidarbha conceded a 119-run first-innings lead after getting bowled out for 105.
And that’s where Nair reckons they lost the clash. “We had a great opportunity in the first innings, which we missed out on. We got them out cheaply, and we could really have pushed them to a corner in the first innings, but we didn’t play well at all with the bat,” he said, breaking down the Ranji final.
Chasing 538 in the fourth innings was always going to be an impossible task, but Vidarbha staged a remarkable comeback despite eventually falling short.
They were 353/5 at one point, and their charge with the bat was started by none other than Nair, who scored an incredibly gritty 74 off 220 balls after walking in at 64/2.
“In the second innings, it was really hard to get that many runs, but all of us tried our best. We tried sticking in there, putting a price on our wicket and made sure we made life difficult for Mumbai,” Nair recalls the final.
“We got quite close. It might not look very close, but I’m sure if you ask the Mumbai players, they’ll tell you that, at one point, they were thinking that the game could go either way. It was a great final, but it’s a tournament we could have definitely won.”
It was so close, yet so far for Vidarbha. But another domestic season is around the corner again, meaning the entire group will have another crack at the Ranji title that they last captured in the 2018/19 season.
For Nair, going all the way this time around would be nice, but, currently, his full focus is on helping the Warriors win the Maharaja Trophy.
“First goal is to try and do well in the Maharaja Trophy for the Mysore Warriors. Hopefully, we can make a deep run in the tournament [once again],” he says.
And then he has a few more goals lined up as well. The biggest of them all? Representing India in Test cricket once again.
“I’d like to get into the domestic season with some momentum and try and score as many runs as I can. I want to put my name in the IPL auction, score runs in each and every game and try and play Test cricket for India again.”
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