“Good to see that a clear statement was given by Ajit Agarkar” - Indian batter’s huge statement after being ignored for 2025 Champions Trophy

In-form Indian batter Karun Nair has spoken about the importance of clarity being issued and praised chief selector Ajit Agarkar for handling his non-selection in the right manner. The 33-year-old emerged as a late contender for Team India's 2025 Champions Trophy squad after a stunning Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign, but did not make the provisional list.

Karun Nair was prolific in Vidarbha's run to the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy finals. The right-handed batter amassed an astonishing 779 runs in eight innings at an average of 389.50, including five hundreds and a fifty. He has continued his rich vein of form to propel the domestic side into the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy semi-finals.

Despite Nair's purple patch, the selection committee decided to retain its incumbent middle-order batters. The likes of Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant remained in the white-ball side for the England ODI series and the Champions Trophy 2025.

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar, however, asserted that the Vidarbha batter's performances have been acknowledged, and he will be strongly considered if there comes a need to change things up.

"Yeah, it was tough. Those are really special performances. Someone who averages 700-plus. We did have a chat. If there is a loss of form (for a player) or injuries, there's certainly going to be a conversation around him," Agarkar had said during the squad announcement press conference on January 18 (via India Today).

Karun Nair revealed that such clarity by the management helps a player to understand the demands.

"It was good to see that a clear statement was given and I think he made it very clear that, you know, what their thinking was, which makes it easier for the player to understand where he needs to go and what he needs to do. For me at least, it is just about focusing on the next match and focusing on winning the Ranji Trophy at the moment," Karun Nair said in an interview with RevSportz.

Karun Nair scored a hundred recently in the first innings of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final clash against Tamil Nadu. His 122 helped Vidarbha amass 353 in the first innings, which eventually became the foundation for their 198-run win in Nagpur.

"I have been batting the same way for the past 16-18 months" - In-form Indian batter Karun Nair

Karun Nair's consistency extends to the previous campaigns in the domestic circuit too. He was the seventh-leading run-scorer in the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy season with 690 runs in 10 matches at an average of 40.58. The same year he was among the runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Vijay Hazare trophy. averaging 36.33 and 46.00 respectively.

"I have been batting the same way for the past 16-18 months. It was just about replicating whatever I was doing well, which I was fortunate enough to do over a consistent period. I have not made any changes to anything. It’s just 3-4 years of hard work on a consistent basis, going through the same process every single day, waking up every single day with one single thing in your head to go out there and play for your country," Nair added (as per the aforementioned source).

The right-handed batter will be seen in action next during the Ranji Trophy semi-final clash against Mumbai, scheduled to begin from February 17 onwards.