All the three parties owe an answer to Karun Nair: Sunil Joshi

Right-hand batsman Karun Nair has been in news for some time, not for playing but for non-playing. The 26-year-old batsman featured in the entire England series as a traveller and also found himself out of favour for the two-Test series against the Windies, starting October 4. The treatment meted out to the talented right-hander has not gone down well with many former cricketers.

Legendary Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar was furious when Hanuma Vihari got a nod ahead of Nair in the final Test against England at the Oval last month and said he owed an explanation for such a treatment. Vihari went on to hit a fifty in his debut innings and it became all the more challenging for Nair to regain a berth in Tests. Now, former India spinner Sunil Joshi came out criticising the way Nair has been handled.

The Test squad against the Caribbeans saw the inclusion of new players like Mayank Agarwal and Mohammed Siraj besides the likes of Prithvi Shaw, who is waiting in the wings for a Test debut and Vihari and Rishabh Pant, who made their debuts in England. But Nair was dropped despite averaging over 63 in six Tests with the highest score of 303 not out smashed against England in a home series in 2016. Nair’s last Test match came in March 2017 against Australia.

Kohli, Shastri need to explain it

Joshi, who is now a member of Bangladesh’s coaching crew, said the Indian team management, led by captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri, needs to explain why Nair was overlooked for the two-Test series without getting a chance.

“Apart from Karun, every other player in India’s squad to England got a chance to play, whether they performed well or not. If he doesn’t get a positive feedback about him, from neither the selectors, coach or the captain, what should a player think when he is dropped from the team without playing? All the three parties owe an answer to Karun here,” 48-year-old Joshi was quoted as saying by The Times of India (TOI).

Joshi, the Tigers’ spin-bowling coach now, said he had nothing against Vihari but felt for Nair and said he has to be communicated the reason for falling out of favour.

[interaction id=”5bb1d750b2ce12b5dad8c3d6″]

For more news and developments, stay tuned on CricTracker.com.