Karun Nair joins Northamptonshire to play three County Championship games

The 31-year-old Nair, who played six Tests for India, replaced Sam Whiteman, who has returned to Australia.

FILE PHOTO: Karun Nair arrived in the UK on Friday and will join Northamptonshire ahead of its match against Warwickshire beginning on Sunday. | Photo Credit: MOORTHY RV

Indian batter Karun Nair has signed up with English county side Northamptonshire to play its remaining three County Championship games this season.

The 31-year-old, who played six Tests for India, replaced Sam Whiteman, who has returned to Australia.

“I’m really looking forward to joining Northamptonshire and getting to play in the County Championship,” Nair said in a statement.

“You hear a lot about county cricket, and I know Prithvi [Shaw] really enjoyed his time with the team, so it’s exciting to have the opportunity to be involved too.

“Hopefully, I can make an impact on the team while I’m there, that’s the main thing for me. It’s about doing as much as I can to help the team get some wins in these last three games.”

The Jodhpur-born cricketer arrived in the UK on Friday and will join Northamptonshire ahead of its match against Warwickshire beginning on Sunday.

Nair is only the second Indian after Virender Sehwag to score a triple-hundred for India in Test cricket. He achieved the feat in December 2016, scoring an unbeaten 303 in his third Test against England in Chennai.

He also featured in two ODIs for India, but has fallen out of favour since across all formats.

Nair boasts of a solid career in domestic cricket, having scored 5922 runs in 85 First-Class games.

“It’s great that we’ve been able to secure Karun to come over for the remainder of the season, he’s really keen to get going,” head coach John Sadler said.

“He’s a high class batter who’s scored something like 11,000 runs in his career and his first-class numbers are particularly special.”

Northamptonshire is at the bottom of Division One and plays Warwickshire at Edgbaston on Sunday.