3 reasons why India must consider Karun Nair for their Champions Trophy 2025 squad

Karun Nair is best remembered for his triple century against England in a Test for India in 2016. More than eight years have passed since then, but Nair has not even played four matches after that 303* against England in Chennai.

The Indian team management dropped him from the Test team after the 2017 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where he failed to cross the 30-run mark in the three matches he played. Nair continued to grind in domestic cricket. However, he never earned a recall to the national squad.

This year, Karun Nair has once again earned the selectors' attention after an unbelievable performance in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Playing for Vidarbha, the middle-order batter smashed five centuries in six innings. Plus, he was dismissed only once, which helped him boost his average above 500 in the tournament.

Having performed so well in domestic cricket, Karun Nair deserves at least one more opportunity to prove himself on the global stage. In this listicle, we will look at three reasons why India must consider the Vidarbha batter for the 2025 Champions Trophy.

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#1 Karun Nair can solve the middle-order woes for India

India played only three ODI matches in 2024. However, in all the games, the middle-order failed to impress. The fact that India's highest team ODI total in 2024 was 230 shows how poor the batting performance was.

Perhaps, it is time for a change in the Indian middle-order. An in-form batter like Karun Nair can bring in some much-needed positive energy in the middle-order. Plus, India have a three-match ODI series against England at home right before the Champions Trophy 2025 tournament.

India should name Nair in the ODI squad for the England series and then decide his Champions Trophy fate depending on his performance.

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#2 Karun Nair can be a wildcard option for captaincy

Rohit Sharma is 37 years old, and there is a question mark over how long he will play in the ODI format. Meanwhile, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant are competing for the wicketkeeper's slot, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Shubman Gill are in the race for the opener's spot.

India should not go with Jasprit Bumrah as the captain due to his workload. At the same time, the new team management does not seem to be a fan of Hardik Pandya's presence in the leadership.

Karun Nair is 33 years old. He has at least four to five years of cricket left in him. Having led Vidarbha brilliantly in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and also captained Delhi Capitals in IPL before, Nair can emerge as a probable wildcard captaincy candidate in ODIs for India.

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#3 Experience of 100+ matches in the longer formats of domestic cricket

One of the reasons why T20 specialists struggle in ODIs and Tests is they do not have the patience to build a long innings. Many teams have faced this issue in international cricket, but one of the solutions has been to back the players with enough first-class and List-A cricket experience.

Karun Nair ticks both the boxes. He has played 109 first-class matches and 103 List-A matches in his career. Having scored a triple century in Tests, he has proven that he can play marathon knocks for the team. A player like Nair can be an asset for any team in the longer formats.