Dear Cricket, Give Me Another Chance

Jashprit Bumrah's delivery was on the leg stump. Karun Nair quickly made his position, flicked a six with square leg!

Mumbai captain Hardik Pandya applauded after seeing his bowler digest the six. Another six on the fifth ball of the same over. This time the slower delivery flew over long-off. Bumrah looked on in surprise. There was also a four between these two sixes. In total, 18 runs from six balls. Many say that Nair's aggressive batting off the best pacer of his time, Bumrah, will be remembered by many.

Karun Nair is one of those rare unfortunates who, despite scoring an unbeaten triple century for India, was dropped after three matches and never returned to the national team. He became a brat in the IPL at the age of 30. He was lost to top-level cricket. On December 10, 2022, Nair tweeted, ‘Dear Cricket, give me another chance.’

Last night, Delhi Capitals posted a post with Nair’s tweet. The caption read, ‘Our hearts are full.’ Along with an emoji to hide tears, love. Nair is expected to be the most satisfied with the Mumbai-Delhi match of the IPL on Saturday night.

This 33-year-old batsman of Delhi Capitals is playing a match in the IPL after almost three years. As an impact replacement for Faf du Plessis, he scored 89 runs off 40 balls. He not only scored runs for Delhi with 5 sixes and 12 fours, but he also let out the regrets that were building up inside him one after another.

He entered the IPL after three years, but he scored his fifty after a gap of almost seven years. To be precise, after 2,520 days. No other batsman has such a big gap between two fifties in the IPL.

Karun Nair has only had the opportunity to play in three seasons in the middle of a long time. He played in 8 matches. In that time, only 37 runs raised big questions about his IPL career.

He did not get another opportunity after 2022. At that time, he was also dropped from the state team Karnataka. It was in such a dark time that Nair's prayer - dear cricket, give me another chance - emerged on social media.

Cricket gave him that opportunity. Or Karun Nair has grabbed it with both hands. How much, you can understand by looking at some numbers. Karun Nair, who went to Vidarbha after waiting for a season, has scored 3,035 runs and 12 centuries in first-class, List 'A' and domestic T20Is since that tweet till yesterday. No other Indian cricketer has been able to score more runs or centuries during this time.

He also played for Northamptonshire in the English county for two seasons, scoring runs at an average of 56. During this time, the team won the Ranji Trophy and reached the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Karun Nair was the top batsman in the ODI version of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He batted in eight innings and was dismissed only twice. His unbeaten innings were as follows—122*, 88*, 163*, 111*, 122*, 88*. In the two in which he was dismissed, he was dismissed for 112 in one and 27 in the other.

After almost single-handedly taking Vidarbha to the final, Karun Nair was able to secure a place in the IPL again, although he could not win the trophy. Although Delhi bought him for a cheap price (50 lakh rupees).

Karun Nair, of course, had his eyes set on getting a chance to take the field. Although that opportunity did not come in Delhi's first four matches. Finally, the opportunity came in the fifth match when Du Plessis was withdrawn due to injury. And at the first opportunity of his IPL comeback, Nair's bat caught fire, a fire that even burnt bowlers like Bumrah.

However, Nair's team could not win the match in the end. Chasing Mumbai's 205 runs, they lost by 12 runs. But Nair did win. His beloved cricket gave him another chance. He is now 33 years old. Nair, who has never had a chance in international T20s, may now seek a chance in that direction too.