India shouldn't subject Shreyas Iyer to the Karun Nair treatment

25th November 2021, Kanpur, India have won the toss and elected to bat first against New Zealand on what seems a very placid pitch. The openers have done just enough to tide over the Kiwis' new-ball storm. Shubman Gill seems to have regained his mojo and alongside Cheteshwar Pujara, seems primed to inflict misery on the visitors.

Then, the lunch break happens. New Zealand get time to revisit their plans. India get time to think too far ahead and forget the challenges that lie in the present. Gill falls – in a manner that has become too synonymous lately. A few minutes later, Pujara bites the dust – again, via a mode of dismissal that wouldn’t please an international No.3 batter.

At that stage, India are on the verge of relinquishing their early advantage. The New Zealand fast bowlers, namely Kyle Jamieson and Tim Southee have their tails up and are making Kanpur feel like Wellington.

For any cricketer, this is a perilous situation. Not just because top-order collapses have become something of a vogue in Indian cricket, but also because the opposition is the best Test outfit on the planet. So, you would imagine that Shreyas Iyer, who was making his debut, would’ve found it tough.

On the contrary, Shreyas embraced the cauldron of pressure like he was born into it. He barely flinched, treated a defining Test as a domestic game and creamed a century in his maiden Test innings.

Shreyas had also seen his captain depart to another wretched shot, meaning that India were precariously placed at 145/4 at one juncture. Yet, that didn’t seem to matter to the debutant at all.

More importantly, that innings told the rest of India (and the world) that he belonged to this stage. And, that India’s inability to understand his potential was a mistake on the Men In Blue’s part.

If that wasn’t enough, he morphed into India’s guardian angel in the second innings too. The hosts had, rather expectedly, wilted under the new-ball pressure. Each of Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Pujara and Rahane had perished to a combination of average strokes and cluttered mindsets. And, for a change, Ravindra Jadeja was trapped LBW for a duck.

Thus, Shreyas had another mountain to climb. This time, he curbed his natural instincts, buckled down and absorbed as much pressure as he could. He was pretty good at that too, ultimately crafting a half-century that negotiated a safe passage for India and ensured that India weren’t in a position to lose the game.

In the process, Shreyas also became the only India batter to pile up a century and a fifty on debut in Test cricket history. So, with the 2nd Test at Mumbai just a couple of days away, Shreyas surely has to be a shoo-in, right?

Virat Kohli will captain India in the 2nd Test at Mumbai

Well, apparently not. The situation isn’t as black and white as it is being made out to be. Virat Kohli, who was rested for the 1st Test and also happens to be the India captain, is slated to return at Mumbai.

Unless he feels too benevolent on the eve of the game, he will take his place in the middle order. Pujara and Rahane are, according to some, “an innings away from getting back into form”. That innings, though, seems farther on the horizon than it has ever been.

It would also seem unfair to drop Mayank after a solitary bad game in the series. He has, to be honest, had a few successive indifferent outings but only returned to the team prior to the series against New Zealand.

Similarly, it might not be wise to ask Wriddhiman Saha to open the innings to accommodate India’s more illustrious (on paper and not on form) batting stars. The last time Saha performed that kind of a role was back in the noughties – a Ranji Trophy game against Tamil Nadu in 2008.

Fair to say then that Shreyas, despite his heroics, is still not guaranteed a spot. Interestingly enough, something similar transpired in Indian cricket a few years ago – 2016 to be specific. And, India, at least with respect to that cricketer, didn’t handle that situation particularly well.

Before the 2016 home series against England, only Virender Sehwag had smashed a triple century in Test cricket for India. During that rubber, though, Karun Nair wrote himself into Indian cricketing folklore, becoming only the second Indian to achieve that feat.

His triple ton came at Chennai and arrived in conditions where batting wasn’t as easy. Yet, he showcased his artistry and dexterity to blunt the English bowling attack. Not just blunt, he actually blazed his way to his triple century.

Unsurprisingly, his name was splashed across all the back pages in the country. A lot of people around the world took notice too. And, then, he was, rather inexplicably, dropped for the next Test India played (against Bangladesh).

Rahane returned, plundered a hapless bowling unit and kept Karun out of the team. Well, at least until the Australia series, where India plummeted to the nadir at Pune and recalled the Karnataka batter.

Karun played all the Tests in that rubber (barring the 1st, of course) and looked tentative. Worryingly, he seemed a pale shadow of the batter who had scripted his name in the history books.

Karun Nair only played a handful of Tests after his triple ton (Pic Credits: Times of India)

Apart from watching the ball, he was also constantly gazing over his shoulder, hoping that no one gives him the axe for performing well. And, even though his performances against Australia have been singled out as the reason for his continued omission since, the damage had already been done when he was dropped.

Such approaches can be applied to experienced cricketers, considering they’ve seen the variables attached to international cricket. When talking about youngsters, it could have a detrimental effect, for they feel that their best performance isn’t deemed good enough for India.

Remarkably, India have made it a habit of excluding players just as they develop a head of steam. KL Rahul had trotted up a string of fifty-plus scores before he was suddenly too technically flawed to continue.

Kuldeep Yadav was branded India’s primary overseas spinner by Ravi Shastri in 2019. He has played a grand total of one Test for India since. And, has gradually been cast by the wayside in all other formats.

Now, India have a chance to ensure that Shreyas’ Test isn’t treated to a similar fate. A spot in India’s Test side should never be taken for granted. But Shreyas is as close to challenging that notion as anyone has been for the past few years.

As for other options, if India are aware enough, they will find that there are other batters (read Pujara and Rahane) who need to be given a break before Shreyas.

While Shreyas brought an aura of run-scoring at Kanpur, Pujara and Rahane brought an inevitability with them – an inevitability that ended in expected doom. At this point, India should know what tack they need, especially with a series in the balance at Mumbai.

For all intents and purposes, India should not subject Shreyas Iyer to the Karun Nair treatment. The bigger question, though, is whether they will. That might as well define the outcome of this Test series against New Zealand.