NEW DELHI: “There’s no use talking much about my innings. I played well, but I couldn’t finish the match,” Karun Nair probably knew that the postmatch media briefing on Sunday night would be a lot about his resurgence.
Three years can be a long time in cricket. A lot has changed since Nair last batted in an IPL match before the majestic 40-ball 89 for Delhi Capitals on Sunday night. For instance, the rate of scoring has gone through the roof in the IPL. Yet, Nair knew he could not force himself to bat any differently. That has been at the core of his resurgence at the domestic level as well.
“I’ve played in the IPL before, so it doesn’t really matter much how many years it’s been since I last played. I knew I wasn’t going to face anything completely new,” Nair said after taking down the Mumbai Indians attack. The game plan was simple. Focus on timing the ball and finding gaps.
“I told myself to take my time, play my normal shots, and improvise only when needed. Luckily, it worked. I’m happy that I batted well,” was his humble assessment of his knock. One wonders how much time he must have taken to get his eye in, in an innings that lasted just 40 balls. He got off to a flyer and none of those shots seemed manufactured or resembled anything in modern-day power-hitting. He had knocked the wind out of the likes of Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah with textbook front foot drives and pick-ups off his pads. And he had to get going immediately, chasing 206 against a formidable attack. “I didn’t want to break that flow and just wanted to play the right shots to the right balls. Bumrah is one of the best bowlers in the world right now, so I had to stay alert. But I trusted myself and picked the areas where I wanted to play my shots. Then I executed them in those areas,” he said.
The good form aside, Nair would himself realise that these opportunities don’t come easy at this stage of his career. He got a look-in only because Faf du Plessis wasn’t available. Interestingly, it was the Impact Player regulation that opened the door for him — a rule that came in when he was in exile. “We knew that the batsmen sitting out had to stay ready because an opportunity could come anytime,” Nair said before going on to spell out the rhetoric around the Impact Player rule: “The Impact Player rule has had a big influence. It has given batters more freedom to go out and play their shots freely. Because of that, more runs are being scored now. It has helped teams a lot.” The Impact Player rule may have freed up a lot of batters, but the 33-year-old Nair must have shook off other shackles than just the pressure of scoring quick.
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