Karun Nair has continued his ridiculous run of form, something that he himself has admitted being surprised by, by smashing an unbeaten 88 off 44 balls. While he missed out on a world record for most consecutive centuries in 50-over cricket, Nair's innings has taken his average in this year's Vijay Hazare Trophy to an eye-watering 752.
Nair's absurdly high average is largely due to him being unbeaten in six out of the seven innings he has played in the tournament. This is also just his first half-century of the tournament and only the second time this year that he has not scored a century. Nair's recent scores in the tournament now read 112*, 44*, 163*, 111*, 112, 122* and 88*. The 112 that he scored on January 3 for Vidarbha against Uttar Pradesh took Nair's tally to 542 runs without being dismissed, which was a world record in 50-over cricket.
Karun Nair's carnage against Maharashtra
Nair was particularly belligerent on Thursday as Vidarbha put up a mammoth 380/3 against Maharashtra. Dhruv Shorey and Yash Rathod both scored centuries in an opening stand of 224 runs in 34.4 overs. Rathod fell on 116 off 101 which brought Nair into the middle.
Nair went on to smash nine fours and five sixes and finished his innings with a strike rate of exactly 200. He put up a partnership of 93 runs with Jitesh Sharma, who scored 51 in 33 balls, which came in just 59 balls, after Shorey fell on 114 off 120.
{{/usCountry}}Nair went on to smash nine fours and five sixes and finished his innings with a strike rate of exactly 200. He put up a partnership of 93 runs with Jitesh Sharma, who scored 51 in 33 balls, which came in just 59 balls, after Shorey fell on 114 off 120.
{{/usCountry}}The sudden rush of centuries has made Karun a surprise candidate to make it to the Indian squad for the 2025 Champions Trophy. Nair, now playing for Vidarbha since 2023, had a steep fall from being India's second triple centurion in Tests back in 2016 to not even being considered for selection by his state, Karnataka. However, a chat with former Indian cricketer Abey Kuruvilla during the DY Patil tournament in early 2023 helped him find his new home in Vidarbha during the 2023-24 season. Since then, he has been piling runs everywhere, irrespective of the format.