Top 5 Cricketers of the Week – December 14th – December 20th

#3 Karun Nair

Karun Nair: Much promise for the future

Karun Nair showed India’s batting bench strength in the final Test. A man not sure of his place scored an unbeaten triple century, only the second Indian batsman to do so. Karun’s 303 off 381 balls is the fourth fastest triple of all time scored at a strike-rate of 79.52. Karun, only in his third innings added 161 with Lokesh Rahul, 81 with Ravichandran Ashwin and 138 with Jadeja to push India to 759 for 7, giving them a lead of 282.

The mountain of runs, scored quickly at 4 per over, ensured India had enough time and runs to bowl England out with 10 overs to spare, winning the match by an innings and 75 runs. Karun was playing in the Test only because of injuries to Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, India’s first-choice batsmen.