IPL 7: Meet the emerging Indian batsman Karun Nair

New Delhi: Indian Premier League has always been a platform for the new and upcoming players especially in India to showcase their on-field talent and a chance to play for the nation. The tournament has given many players like Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and many more.This year, Rajasthan Royals has produced lot of fresh talents including Pravin Tambe, Sanju Samson and Dhawal Kulkarni, but the player who is being talked about the most is the batting all-rounder Karun Nair who has been performing consistently in the IPL and tops the list of emerging players of the tournament.Let's know something more about this upcoming fresh talent:Karun Kaladharan Nair (born 6 December 1991 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India) is an Indian cricketer who plays for Karnataka. He is a right-hand batsman and offbreak bowler.Karun was signed by the Bangalore team for the fifth edition of the Indian T20 League in 2012 but could not more than 2 games. He had an excellent 2013-14 Ranji season in which he scored three centuries in six matches including an innings of 151 not out in the semi-final. He would look to continue his good form and taking giant steps for his better career.The hundreds were even more impressive for someone who went four years without scoring a century at age-group level in his teens.Nair was good enough to make the Karnataka Under-19 team when he was 15, and steadily climbed the rungs before making the Ranji side in his early 20s.Now he is under perfect guidance of Rahul Dravid as he was purchased by the franchisee for 75 lakh rupees to play for Rajasthan team in the 2014 season of Indian T20 League. RR decided to be give the 22-year-old a chance in the fourth game after Abhiskek Nayar's continuous failure as an opener. Nair did not start off well scoring 8 and 1, but RR persisted with him and he hit 73 off 50 balls leading his team to a win against Daredevils. In the next game, he contributed a brisk 44 against KKR, which they won by 10 runs. However he failed to contribute again for the team again while chasing the target of 135 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in 30th match. RR was bowled out for just 102 after an emphatic victory over KKR in their last match.He scored his second half century against RCB where he was the highest scorer in the team and his innings set the base for RR to steal a thrilling win. RR was chasing a daunting target of 191, and his innings of 56 off 39 balls made it easy for other batsmen to chase the target further.In the recent match against CSK, he failed in contributing towards his team and went for just 8. In his 7 matches for RR this season, he had scored 202 runs at the strike rate of 125.Karun has so far proved to be a good gamble for RR and in all probability will continue to open.