For the first time since he made his debut in 2013-14, Karun Nair has been dropped from the Karnataka red-ball squad, ahead of its opening two Ranji Trophy encounters against Services and Pondicherry in Bengaluru.
The 31-year-old, only the second Indian Test batter to score a triple-century, has had a forgettable few years. First overlooked for the white-ball formats this season, Karun now finds himself out of the reckoning in red-ball cricket too.
“Dear cricket, give me one more chance,” Karun tweeted on Saturday, but with the selection panel led by Fazal Khaleel seemingly eager to build the Karnataka side for the future – as seen from the inclusions of Nikin Jose and 18-year-old Vishal Onat in the 15-man list – it may be a while until Karun is reconsidered.
This is Onat’s maiden call-up and has been rewarded for his exploits in the Cooch Behar U-19 Trophy where he has scored 575 runs in five league-stage matches, with a highest score of 296.
Jose, 20, has been in splendid form of late, raking up 447 runs at an average of 55.87 in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy. In the long format, he topped the batting charts in the KSCA first division league with 715 runs.
Batter Devdutt Padikkal, who is recovering from an illness, was not included while speedster Prasidh Krishna, who has been out of action because of a back injury, is yet to be declared match-fit.
The Mayank Agarwal-led side will begin its campaign against Services starting on Tuesday.
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