Having not played for Team India for seven years, Karun Nair is not looking too far ahead and wants to relaunch his stagnant career by taking one step at a time.
The 32-year-old batter has been scoring runs consistently for Vidarbha in India's circuit and Northamptonshire in English county cricket.
Nair wants to keep up the good work and utilize every opportunity that comes his way.
You have to be prepared for the grind. It’s just about the next game. And I'm not looking too far into the future because sometimes you can get stuck in thinking about what's going to happen,” Karun told PTI.
“I've had scored a lot of runs in the last one year in all formats. I've just been trying to continue doing what I've been doing the last one year on every given opportunity…taking every opportunity as a new day,” he added.
Nair has been a fantastic addition to Northamptonshire. He joined them in 2023 and scored 249 runs in three games at an average of 83.
In 2024, Nair has accumulated 487 runs in seven games at an average of 49 and has looked solid.
“You are playing with a different ball there – literally. Everyone knows for Indian batsmen to go and score runs in England…to play the moving ball is tough. So, I've learnt a lot more about myself as a batsman and finding ways to score runs and believing in yourself.
“There are so many things that I've learnt in England that, you know, maybe I had it in me but I didn't realise all this while,” he mentioned.
The change to Vidarbha has done wonders for Nair who was not getting enough opportunities in his home state Karnataka.
“First of all, it's the opportunity to play in the Ranji Trophy cricket, which I missed out for a year for reasons that I don't know. So, I am really thankful to Vidarbha for giving me the opportunity to play first-class cricket.
“So, the aim is to improve on last year and go one step further. And, you know, hopefully, we can win a couple of trophies,” he said.
Nair has not given up on his dream of playing Test cricket for India again and feels that he is "good enough" to do that.
“Yes, of course. Everyone plays this game to go out there and represent your country and that's my only aim now -- to play Test cricket again, which I think, I'm very confident that I can. I know that I'm good enough,” he said.
