I just keep telling myself that I deserve more than a series: Karun Nair

Indian batter Karun Nair made a comeback to the Test team after scoring a truckload of runs in the domestic circuit in the last two years. He played for the country after almost eight years but could not grab his opportunity with both hands on the England tour.

In four Test matches, the right-hander scored 205 runs in four Test matches at an average of 25.62. Nair had scored a crucial fifty (57) in the first innings of the final Test match at the Kennington Oval in difficult batting conditions and thus played a key role in India’s six-run win.

But Nair was overlooked for the two-match home Test series against the West Indies as the selectors decided to give a long run to young Sai Sudharsan at number three.

“It’s quite disappointing [being dropped], but I know that I deserve to be there after the last two years [in domestic cricket],” Nair told reporters in Shivamogga on the sidelines of the Goa game. “People might have their opinions, but personally, my opinion is that I deserve a lot better.”

Nair said he is ready to keep fighting for his place and won’t throw in the towel, “Few individuals in the team have had good conversations with me about how they feel and that’s about it.

“All I can do is keep scoring runs, that’s my job. There’s nothing much for me to say. I just keep telling myself that I deserve more than a series. That’s all I can tell myself, and not let that go into my head. All I want to do is to play for the country. That’s the only target. If you’re not able to do that, the next thing would be to try and win games for the side I’m playing for,” he said.

Nair returned with scores of 73 and 8 in the Ranji Trophy clash against Saurashtra.