Curious case of Karun Nair and relevance of performances in first-class matches

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was one of the last boards to announce the national team for the ICC Champions Trophy, set to start on February 19. The ostensible reason was that the national selection committee wanted to watch players' performances in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. The selectors also wanted to assess the fitness of Jasprit Bumrah, who had to leave the field during the Sydney Test back spasm, and Mohammed Shami, who returned to representative cricket after a prolonged break.

The possibility that the performances in a domestic tournament might pave the way for a place in the national side would also have inspired the players to put their best foot forward during this championship.

BCCI's decision brought to one’s mind the practice of yesteryears when selection to the national squad for an away series was influenced by the performances of players in the domestic tournaments held just prior to the tour. Umesh Kulkarni was selected to the squad for the tour to Australia and New Zealand in 1967-68 based on a single good show in the Irani Trophy match prior to the selection. Similarly, ML Jaisimha and Salim Durani could work their way back to the team based on the runs that flowed from their bats during the Duleep Trophy championship held before the tour to the West Indies in 1971.

Chetan Chauhan, who the selectors discarded after a couple of outings each in Test matches in 1969 and 1973, has to thank the good form he showed with the willow in the Duleep Trophy matches prior to the tour to Australia in 1977-78, which helped him to seal his place in the side. Even the great Kapil Dev got the selectors' nod ahead of Barun Burman of West Bengal based on an excellent display with the ball in the Irani Trophy game held before the tour to Pakistan in 1978.

There are many similar examples of domestic tournaments held prior to major tours being used as selection matches for players on the fringe of making it to the national side. It must be admitted that this practice worked well for both the players and the country before the advent of round-the-year international cricket.

Unfortunately, the performances of players in the Vijay Hazare Trophy do not appear to have made any impact on the national selectors when they sat down to choose the squad for the Champions Trophy. Only four players - Shreyas Iyer, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel - found favour with the selectors. None of the top-five run makers - Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, Siddesh Veer, Prabhsimran Singh or Dhruv Shorey - were selected. Among the top wicket-takers, only Arshdeep Singh, with a tally of 20 scalps from 7 games, could make it to the squad. For the record, Karnataka won the trophy defeating Vidarbha by 36 runs in the final.

The case of Karun Nair is an especially sad one. There cannot be a player treated more poorly by his nation’s sports body in the history of this game than this doughty batsman. Despite being only the second-ever triple centurion for India, he could play for the country only in six Tests. He is only the third cricketer in the game's history to have converted his maiden Test hundred into a triple century, the other two being the legendary Gary Sobers and former skipper of Australia Bob Simpson.

Despite being in such elite company, he found himself warming the benches outside the playing arena more often than facing the red cherry with a willow. He was not considered to be a part of the playing eleven in any of the Test matches during the tour to England in 2018, even though the middle order floundered badly and the side lost the series 1-4. He was dropped after that tour and never given an opportunity again, though he has been piling heaps of runs in the domestic circuit.

Karun Nair has, till date, scored 7,637 runs in domestic first-class cricket at an average of 48.64, with 328 as his highest score. His performances in the list “A” games and the domestic T20 circuit are also creditable. He played Indian Premier League (IPL) for eight seasons from 2013 and made his last appearance in this championship in 2020. Though he has not played in any of the matches in IPL during the last four seasons, Delhi Capitals bought him during the last auction for Rs 50 lakh. This means that we may not have seen the last of this player in IPL though it appears that the selectors have firmly closed the doors on his dreams of donning the national colours again.

This brings one to the issue of the relevance of performances in the domestic first-class circuit. After the directions issued by BCCI that all contracted players should take part in domestic matches unless specifically exempted, we saw Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant et al, take the field in first-class matches held last week. And it did not surprise the discerning followers of the game that none of them came good with the bat. The quality of cricket played at the first-class level in India is quite high, and players who turn out for the country cannot expect any easy runs while playing at this level. Suffice to say the absence of top players has succeeded only in robbing the glamour from the domestic circuit but did not lead to a steep fall in standards.

What lies behind the reluctance of national squad members to participate in domestic cricket circuit matches? They cannot always blame the tight schedule as they try to stay away even when they are free from the workload of international cricket. Further, they do not hesitate to play in IPL, which has a more packed schedule involving frequent matches and incessant travel. There is a distinct mental block that affects players from Virat Kohli right down to Sanju Samson when they are asked to turn out for their respective states in Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy matches.

This was not the case till a couple of decades ago. Cricketing greats like Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev never missed an opportunity to play Ranji or Duleep Trophy matches till they bid adieu to the game. Gavaskar could retain his pole position as the most technically accomplished player of spin bowling only because he played against top-quality spinners on turning tracks in the domestic circuit till his last season. Even the generation of Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly took domestic cricket seriously. One remembers the Ranji Trophy finals between Mumbai and Bengal, played in February 2007, more for how Tendulkar and Ganguly pitted their skills against each other.

Sanjay Manjrekar has openly confessed that his early retirement from the game was prompted more by his aversion to playing at the first-class level than anything else. Though it is a fact that many of the matches in the domestic circuit are played in tier 2 and 3 cities, the facilities at the grounds and the quality of accommodation and entertainment available at these centres are top-class at present. Hence, poor spectator interest in the proceedings in these matches is the sole reason for top players preferring to stay away from them. The supreme confidence that not playing these matches will not affect their position in the national squad nor influence their standing with the public allows them to skip these games with impunity, little realising that they offer the best platform to sharpen their skills and stay on top, besides the tremendous amount of goodwill generated on this score.

Players like Karun Nair and Ajinkya Rahane have been playing first-class matches in the domestic circuit despite realising they have very little chance of returning to the national squad. There are scores of others who play these matches in the hope that they will catch the eyes of the selectors and move up the ladder to the international level. It is up to the selectors to inject confidence into this system by rewarding players who perform well in domestic matches by giving them opportunities at a higher level. If this is not done, the faith in the institution of domestic cricket and the selection process of BCCI will get eroded and budding cricketers will start looking up to the talent scouts of IPL franchisees to provide them with the required breaks to showcase their talents.

Despite the popularity of IPL, the structure for junior and senior cricket brought in place by BCCI remains sturdy. It offers the best avenue for up-and-coming players from across our vast country to showcase their potential. Officials and selectors must ensure that this system retains its robustness and vitality. It would be a sad day for Indian cricket if BCCI were to abdicate these responsibilities even in partial measure.