“Dear Cricket, Give Me One More Chance”

Soon after becoming only the second Test triumvirate for India, Karun Nair returned to the gym in Bengaluru. Visions of a bright future drove him forward.

Hours after he was dropped from Karnatakas Ranji Trophy squad on Saturday for the first time in almost a decade, he was in the same gym. Memories of the now distant past still haunt him.

“I trust the process,” Karun had said long ago.

It’s commendable that he sticks by what he once said with a cheeky smile, referring to the bricks hurled at him earlier in his career.

Inspirational, too, when you consider his newly found responsibility as a young father and an identity that resembles a coin in a whirlwind.

Maybe it’s time for Karun to recalibrate and move in a different direction, at least in terms of his process. Because pretty much everything he’s worked for and worked toward has come undone, causing a crisis of faith that manifested itself in a tweet on Saturday night.

Dear cricket, give me one more chance, he wrote.

It was an uncharacteristic display of vulnerability from a man forced into a shell by the uncompromising world of cricket.

At just 31, the cricketer is down on his luck (metaphorically on his knees) and begging for another chance.

While his public confession may seem like he’s resigned to his fate, cricketers like Karun are slow to give in, even slower to give up.

If anything, now Karuns is more relatable as his story transcends the numbers, meltdowns, rejections and failures. He now enters the realm of man, swimming against the tide of time – a reflection of a very human struggle.

However, it is impossible to put yourself in his shoes as few in the history of Indian cricket have risen from such dizzying heights to these lows during his time.

Just six years ago, Karun, at the age of 25, hit an unbeaten 303 in his third Test at Chepauk, Chennai against England on the 19th. December 2016.

Now, as of December 12, 2022, the No. 287 Test cricketer is rumored to be playing amateur cricket on unclear grounds in Bengaluru.

As humiliating as it would have been, Karun also dropped out of the state section due to limited overs earlier this year. In the midst of this peculiar cycle, he was released by Rajasthan Royals ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League season.

The final push came on Saturday night when the Fazal Khaleel-led Karnataka selection committee decided to bring in a couple of youngsters in the red-ball squad for the upcoming Ranji season. They replaced the not so old Karun to play with a younger middle class.

That is, a tweet.

Although Karun got three Tests after his unprecedented Test start, being benched by Australia freshman Hanuma Vihar in 2017 didn’t sit well with him, or so it seems, as he hasn’t been the same. since.

bitterness? Antagonize? Depression? Depression?

Regardless of the fallout from the Indian management’s decision, it affected Karun so deeply that the consistency that had taken him to the highest level of cricket failed him even at the domestic level.

Questioning Karun’s ability because of his regression is not a sound argument, nor is questioning his work ethic. However, his ability to question rejection is not off the table.

Karun still has time to recover. If nothing else, he could return to the Karnataka side one day as it is not easy to ignore his experience, intelligence and intensity.

Maybe the force that saved him from drowning in a river in Kerala in 2016 will save his career from crashing. So prayer.

All said and done, one can’t help but wonder, Looking at the license plate of Karu’s gorgeous black Ford Mustang – which reads “303*” – as a stark reminder of what once was. Or maybe he takes it as a reminder of what he’s really and still capable of.