Sunil Gavaskar On Karun Nair's Omission From Champions Trophy 2025 Squad
The Indian batter Karun Nair's dream of donning the Indian jersey after eight years was shattered after the announcement of the squad for the Champions Trophy 2025 and ODIs against England. He was outstanding in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25, scoring 779 runs in 8 innings at an average of 389.50, smashing five hundreds. The chief selector, Ajit Agarkar, and captain Rohit Sharma held a press conference on Saturday to announce the squad for upcoming tournaments, and Nair was not able to make it to either squad.
The 33-year-old got praised for his exceptional performance from the legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. He played two ODIs for India; both were during the tour of Zimbabwe in 2016 but did not get a chance after that.
Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar shared his views on Karun Nair's not getting a chance in the national team for the upcoming tournaments. He said that India has well-established middle-order batters in the form of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer. Both players performed well during the 2023 World Cup, and till then India had not played much ODI.
"Where should they fit him? You could have taken the spot of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer. KL will perform the role of second wicketkeeper-batter for this team, and his performance during the 2023 World Cup was good. I don't think the Indian cricket team has played much ODI cricket after that. Shreyas Iyer has also performed well in the format. That is why Karun Nair has not been picked."
"If his form during the Ranji Trophy remains the same, then it will be hard for Team India to not pick him during the upcoming Test tour of England."
In the press conference on Saturday, many questions were asked by the BCCI on Karun Nair. Talking about his performances, he said that it is tough to put everyone in the squad, and they did have a chat with him.
"Yeah, it is tough.Those are really special performances. I mean, someone who averages 700-plus, 750-plus (before the Vijay Hazare final). We did have a chat (about Karun)."
"But at the moment, to find a spot in this team is very difficult. I mean, look at the guys who've been picked. All average well in excess of mid-40s. So unfortunate; you can't fit everyone in. It's a squad of 15. But those performances (like Karun's) certainly make you take notice."