Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has opined that in-form Karun Nair should have been picked in India’s Champions Trophy. Nair amassed 779 runs with five hundreds in the Vijay Hazare trophy and guided Vidarbha to the final of the tournament.
The right-hander scored his runs at an average of 389.50 in eight innings. Karun Nair also had a good run in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024, scoring 255 runs in six matches at an average of 42.50 and an impressive strike rate of 177.08.
However, Nair was ignored despite his consistent performances in the domestic tournaments.
Harbhajan Singh said on his YouTube Channel, “I was hopeful he would get selected. I know it’s very difficult to decide whom to include and whom to keep out. But if you don’t play Karun Nair … I am not saying he should play right away, but he has scored runs and is in form. At least, he should have been in the team.”
The Turbanator questioned the selectors for not taking into account the domestic circuit performances.
“What is the importance of Ranji Trophy (domestic cricket)? When an international player is not in form, you drop him and tell him to play Ranji Trophy and prove his form. But the ones who are doing well, you are not watching their performance.
“Karun Nair should have been picked as a standby. If needed, he could have been called up. It not needed, at least he would have been in the mix. It’s high time you get him back in the system and give him confidence so that he can work even harder,” the 44-year-old concluded.
India will begin their Champions Trophy campaign against Bangladesh in Dubai on February 20.
India squad for the Champions Trophy: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant(wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah*, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal
