Dear cricket, give me one more chance,” tweeted Karun Nair on December 10, 2022. It was raw, vulnerable, and heartbreakingly honest. A Test triple-centurion reduced to a spectator, left unsold at the IPL, dropped from Karnataka across formats, and only 31 years old. For many, this would’ve been the end. For Karun, it became the beginning.
Cut to April 13, 2025 — a warm Sunday night at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The lights were bright, but Karun Nair’s bat was brighter. Playing his first IPL game in nearly three years, he walked in with his team at 0 for 1 chasing 206. Facing Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah — two of the fiercest in the business — Nair had no time to settle. He didn’t need any.
A 22-ball half-century. First IPL fifty in 2520 days — the longest gap ever between two IPL fifties. He smashed Bumrah, threaded gaps with precision, and played shots that oozed timing, touch, and class. He eventually fell for 89, just 11 short of a dream hundred, but by then, the message was clear:
Karun Nair is BACK!
This wasn’t a fluke. Karun had spent the last two years rewriting his story. After leaving Karnataka, he joined Vidarbha and turned into a domestic giant — scoring 3035 runs and 12 centuries across formats. In one surreal 50-over season, he notched up five centuries in eight innings, averaging a Bradman-esque 389.50 and not to forget, at one time his average in the same tournament was a staggering 752, talk about unbeaten streaks. Add to that his County Championship stint with Northamptonshire, where he averaged 56.61 — Karun wasn’t just knocking on the door, he was kicking it down.
Still, nothing hits quite like the IPL stage. And on Sunday, Karun didn’t just score runs — he made a statement. After years of being overlooked, doubted, and discarded, he finally got the moment he’d been dreaming of.
And that old tweet? It resurfaced — poetic, prophetic, powerful.
Cricket did give Karun Nair another chance. And he didn’t just take it.
He owned it.
