Karun Nair sets his sights on India return: Aiming to impress Ajit Agarkar

Karun Nair is eagerly preparing to make his long-awaited return to the Indian Premier League (IPL) after a five-year hiatus. The experienced Indian batsman was signed by Delhi Capitals during the mega auction held last November. However, his ultimate goal remains to secure a spot in the Indian team for the upcoming tour of England in June.

Nair has been on a run-scoring spree in domestic cricket. After a record run in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he scored 779 runs in nine games at 389.50, comprising five centuries, he carried his momentum into red-ball cricket, where he scored 860 runs at 57.33, comprising four centuries, including a match-winning knock of 135 and 85 in the final in Vidarbha's title win.

Speaking to reporters in Delhi Capitals' first media interaction before IPL 2025, Nair admitted that his run in domestic cricket definitely put him in contention for a place in the Indian team. However, he added that he does not want to look ahead of himself and wants to keep his focus on IPL.

"At least I think I'm closer (Test return) rather than further. I don't know how close I am. It's at the back of the mind," he said. "But the only focus right now is to prepare well and understand what I need to be doing in the IPL and contribute in every game that I play."

Karun Nair sets his agenda straight to impress Ajit Agarkar

Contrary to previous claims, IPL has played a major role in helping selectors make their choices for the Test team. Since Nair made his debut in the traditional format for India, 29 players have bagged the honour and only three of them were non-active IPL players. Not to forget, Ajinkya Rahane had famously launched his comeback to the Indian Test team in 2023 on the back of an outstanding IPL season for Chennai Super Kings. Meanwhile, Bengal batter Abhimanyu Easwaran has been a run-machine in domestic cricket, but lack of IPL experience saw him miss out on the opportunity to make his Test debut for India a few times.

Overall, Nair, who made his debut in 2013, played 73 IPL games in his career, scoring 1480 runs at 24.26 at a strike rate of 128.36, with 10 fifties.

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