Karun Nair is undergoing a difficult career-rebuilding process after overcoming challenges of various nature, but the Indian batter is reluctant to look too far ahead because he believes it could cause him to become stagnant. Karun hasn’t played for India in seven years, but in the past year or so, he has flashed some old fire by producing brilliant batting performances and scoring runs for Vidarbha and Northamptonshire in English county cricket.

You have to be prepared for the grind. It’s just about the next game. And I’m not looking too far into the future because sometimes you can get stuck in thinking about what’s going to happen, Karun told PTI. I’ve scored a lot of runs in the last one year in all formats. I’ve just been trying to continue doing what I’ve been doing for the last one year on every given opportunity, taking every opportunity as a new day, the 32-year-old cricketer admitted.

Karun’s career began to take a turn in early 2023 when he played for Northamptonshire. In three games, he amassed 249 runs at an average of 83, including a century against Surrey. And this year, Karun aggregated 487 runs in seven games, including a century against Glamorgan. While hardly astounding figures, these are sufficient to give a great deal of confidence for a batter who was lacking direction in his craft.

You are playing with a different ball there – literally. Everyone knows for Indian batsmen to go and score runs in England, and play the moving ball is tough. So, I’ve learned a lot more about myself as a batsman, finding ways to score runs and believing in myself, he added.