'We expected...'- India's chief selector breaks silence on Karun Nair's omission from IND vs WI Test squad
The chief selector of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Ajit Agarkar, has revealed why they decided to omit Karun Nair from the squad for the two-match Test series at home against the West Indies.
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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced its squad for the upcoming two-match Test series against the West Indies at home, which will start just a couple of days after the Asia Cup 2025 final. There isn’t any surprise under the leadership of Shubman Gill as the selectors have named Ravindra Jadeja as the vice-captain in the absence of injured Rishabh Pant.
The opening game will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad before the action moves to the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi for the second encounter. They have picked three specialist all-rounders in the side, but the talking point has been around Karun Nair’s absence as their chief selector, Ajit Agarkar, revealed the reason.
“We expected more from Karun Nair. It can’t be just one inning. Padikkal offers more. We would like to give 15-20 chances to everyone, but it is not possible in these circumstances. Padikkal has been in great form, and he was in the team.” Agarkar expressed in the press conference in Dubai.
Ajit Agarkar reveals reason to omit Karun Nair from IND vs WI Test squad
Nair didn’t enjoy a great time in the England series. He started with a duck at Leeds before getting two 25+ scores at Edgbaston. After being dropped from the side for the fourth Manchester Test, the right-handed batter returned for the last fixture at the Kennington Oval in South London to celebrate a fine half-century.
The former Vidarbha batter, who has returned to his old base, Karnataka, has notched up 579 runs in 15 innings of the red-ball format at an average of 41.35 and a strike rate of 64.62, with the help of one half-century and one century at the best score of unbeaten 303 runs. But this omission could be the end of his Test career.
The selection committee went ahead with Devdutt Padikkal, who drilled a fine knock of 150 in Lucknow against Australia A and looked in good touch for his 57 during the Duleep Trophy 2025 for the South Zone against North Zone at the BCCI Coe Ground in Bengaluru.
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