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Nair’s domestic success sparks India Test recall hopes

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Having tackled challenges of various nature, Karun Nair is on a tough career-rebuilding process but the India batter does not want to look too far ahead as he feels it can make him stuck at one place.

It has been seven years since Karun has played a match for India but he has shown a bit of old fire in the last year or so, garnering runs for Vidarbha and for Northamptonshire in English county cricket.

“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 here on Wednesday.

“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.

The first hint of a positive turnaround in Karun’s career came when he turned out for Northamptonshire in early 2023 when he made 249 runs from three matches at an average of 83 that contained a hundred against eventual champions Surrey.

This year, Karun aggregated 487 runs from seven matches at an average of 49 including a century against Glamorgan.

These are not mind-blowing numbers, but good enough to instil oodles of confidence in a batsman who was struggling to find some purpose in his craft.

“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 noted.

Then came the move to Vidarbha from Karnataka during the last domestic season, and it came at the right time for him.

The right-hander was getting frustrated at not getting enough games in his home state, but all that changed once he moved to Vidarbha.

He made 690 runs from 10 matches with two hundreds, helping his side to reach the Ranji Trophy semifinals.

“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.

The 32-year-old was understandably disappointed at not getting a first-class match for a full season but he found a shard of positive in that gloom too.

“It’s obviously been a difficult time for me. But probably that one season taught me how to value each game…practice harder, do everything smarter. I think that (non-playing season) has made me stronger and more determined to do well in each and every game,” he said.

“No matter what happens, it’s kind of made me, I don’t know, brought some kind of fire in yourself. So, just like I said, I’m happy with the way I’m batting. I want to keep continuing this way.”

But the last year has also rekindled Karun’s dream of walking back into the Indian dressing room.

“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.

But for now, Karun would like to cap the good beginning to a new season with a title triumph in the ongoing KSCA Maharaja T20 with the Mysore Warriors.

“We’ve crossed the first step, that is to qualify for the semis, which is something that we set out to do when we started the tournament,” he signed off.

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Jasprit Bumrah will be the next India captain says Gavaskar

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The legendary Sunil Gavaskar is in awe of Jasprit Bumrah’s leadership qualities and reckons the peerless fast bowler will succeed Rohit Sharma as the next captain of the Indian team following his extraordinary display in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Bumrah recently produced one of the best-ever bowling performances by an overseas pacer in Australia and picked 32 wickets over five Tests.

He was also captain during India’s only victory in the series, helping the visitors to a convincing win at the Optus Stadium in Perth in the opener.

“He could be the next man. I think he will be the next man. Because he leads from the front, he has got a very good air about him, the air of a leader but not somebody who is going to pressure on you,” Gavaskar aired his views on Channel 7.

The batting great added, “Sometimes, you have captains who put a lot of pressure on you. With Bumrah you can see that, he expects the others to do what their job is, why they are in the national team, but it doesn’t seem to pressurise anybody.”

Bumrah has been spearheading the Indian pace attack for some years now and his guidance has helped the likes of Mohammed Siraj to grow as a fast bowler.

“With the fast bowlers, he has been absolutely brilliant, standing at mid-off, mid-on and every time just being at hand to tell them. I think he was absolutely brilliant and I won’t be surprised if he takes over very soon.”

Bumrah took his wickets at an incredible average of 13.06 and an even better strike rate of 28.37 before pulling up injured midway through Australia’s first innings at the SCG in the final Test.

In Bumrah’s absence, the home team chased down 162 on the third day to win the series 3-1.

The lead pacer was handed the captaincy in the final Test after the out-of-form Rohit Sharma “opted out” but a back spasm prevented Bumrah from bowling on the crucial third day.

Bumrah destroyed Australia in Perth with eight wickets, grabbed six wickets in the first innings at the Gabba, and nearly turned the Boxing Day Test on its head with his exploits on the fourth afternoon at MCG.

In the series decider at SCG, Bumrah sent back Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne early in Australia’s first innings but could only bowl one over after lunch on the second day when the game was evenly poised.

The Indian pacer was named the Player of the Series for his unforgettable performance.

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‘Kohli knows what to do’: Du Plessis backs India star

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Virat Kohli will be “super motivated” to put a struggling phase behind him and the premier India batter is capable of returning to his run-making ways, said former South African captain Faf du Plessis here on Wednesday.

Kohli had a torrid time in Australia during the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy, amassing a mere 190 runs at an average of 23.75 across five Tests despite starting off with an unbeaten hundred in the first Test at Perth.

Du Plessis backed Kohli, his one-time teammate at Royal Challengers Bangalore, to come back stronger from the struggles, and said retirement is a “very personal” choice.

“That is very, very personal. No one can speak to you about when that time is (up) as a player, you’ll know,” du Plessis told PTI on the sidelines of the SA20 Season 3’s Captain’s Day.

“I know someone like him is super super motivated, he’s gone through it all before, so he knows exactly what to do,” said Du Plessis.

The 40-year-old then went back to the day when he felt his time was up as a Test cricketer.

“It is different for every player. Every player needs to answer that question. I remember when that time was for me,” he said.

“I just knew that certainly from the Test cricket perspective for me. I didn’t have that same hunger and drive anymore and I felt that that stage certainly for me was a good time to let new guys come in and also step into the T20 world.

“I wanted to do that at the stage where I still felt like I was on top of my game,” he added.

Du Plessis was not pleased with ICC reportedly exploring the possibility of a two-tier Test system.

“No, I think we need the game to be healthy,” Du Plessis said.

“We saw over the last few years the value that was put on Test cricket by Australia, England and India making sure that there were 4-5 Test series.

“When you look at the other teams, there are two Test matches here and there and playing six Test matches a season. I do not think that is healthy for the game,” he offered.

“As long as we can look at Test cricket as (being) important, you just look at all the Test matches that took place over the last few weeks, some incredible matches have been played,” Du Plessis noted.

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PCB make change to indicate Champions Trophy 2025 readiness

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The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has relocated February’s tri-nation One-Day International (ODI) series with New Zealand and South Africa from Multan to Lahore and Karachi, two cities set to host the Champions Trophy later in the month.

The PCB said the move was due to the advanced stage of preparations at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium and Karachi’s National Stadium, which will host six of the 12 Champions Trophy group stage matches.


Lahore will also host one semi-final as well as the final provided India, who are playing all their matches in Dubai following an agreement that neither India nor Pakistan will visit each other’s countries for ICC tournament matches, do not qualify.

Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium will also host three matches of the eight-team tournament.

The PCB is upgrading the facilities at all three venues in the country as Pakistan prepares to host an ICC tournament for the first time since 1996, when they co-hosted the ODI World Cup.

The tri-series will be played from February 8-14, while the Champions Trophy will kick off on Feb. 19 in Karachi, with defending champions Pakistan playing New Zealand.

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