Whenever I scored runs, there's someone else who scored better: Karun Nair

Karun Nair, one of India’s finest batter, is yet to establish himself as a T20 regular. After the historic 303 against England in 2016, his Test journey also failed to attain the heights many anticipated.

Nair had a good start to his IPL career, hitting 330 runs at a strike rate of 142.24 for Rajasthan Royals in 2014. However, even after playing for a few more teams since then, he has struggled to cement himself as a stalwart in T20 cricket.

Nair has now reunited with the Rajasthan Royals for IPL 2022 after building a decent rapport with the team in recent years. He said he is looking forward to adding to the team’s success.

People don’t see me as a T20 specialist because I’ve been asked to play different roles: Karun Nair

“In my opinion, the reason behind that is that I’ve never been the kind of a main player in a team in T20 cricket. If you see, whenever I score runs, there’s someone else who scores better in the same match (laughs),” Nair said in a press release issued by Rajasthan Royals.

”On a more serious note, why people don’t see me as a T20 specialist is because I’ve been asked to play different kind of roles over the years, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But I’m hoping to have a great season with the Royals and just focus on whatever I’m told to do,” he added.

”Obviously a lot of things have changed since when I was here (at the Royals) first, but this team always feels like home to me. We have a well-balanced side, and I’m enjoying getting to know all the guys here. ”It’s an exciting phase in the history of this franchise and I’m looking forward to playing an exciting brand of cricket, which I know the Royals always strive to do,” said 30-year-old Nair.

Nair said that he is looking forward to playing alongside his “great buddy,” Royals’ captain Sanju Samson, who he has previously played with in the IPL arena.

”I’ve always loved playing with Sanju so I can’t wait to reconnect with him on the ground. We’ve had some really good partnerships over the years and I’m really happy to know Sanju, along with Kumar (Sangakkara) and Zubin (Bharucha), have shown the faith in me to bring me back into the team,” he said.