New Delhi | It took eight years for Karun Nair to don India jersey again but 25 days into his second coming in Test cricket, the Karnataka batter could well have played his last international game after six consecutive failures in the ongoing away series against England.
Coming back to the Indian team after scoring heavily in domestic cricket, Nair had started his UK sojourn on a bright note with a double hundred against England Lions in Canterbury, virtually breaking the selection door.
But after three Tests at Headingley, Edgbaston and Lord's, Nair has tallied only 131 runs at an average of shade below 22 and it would be extremely difficult for the Gautam Gambhir- helmed team management to ignore the numbers.
Sai Sudharsan, who made his debut at Leeds, looked solid during his second innings' 30 but when it came to team combination, Nair, who is nearing 34, was given preference because the younger batter has a big future ahead of him.
For Nair, it was a case of now or never. And to be fair to Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill, there was a lot of logic and justification in giving Nair a fair run.
It is not that Nair looked completely out of place in all three games, facing a total of 249 deliveries, but there seemed to be a distinct problem when it came to handling quality pace and seam movement in tandem.
Against Chris Woakes' pace of early 130s, Nair found it easy to negotiate but when it came to faster Brydon Carse or Jofra Archer, it seemed that he is a trifle late with his reaction time.
So what is Nair's technical problem? Former India selector and Delhi Ranji coach Devang Gandhi dissected his game.
"Obviously, he is doing the hard yards before there is a lapse of concentration. Save first innings at Leeds, he has played minimum of 30 deliveries in each innings which means he is working hard but results aren't coming," Gandhi told PTI.
And why is that so?
"In case of Karun, he has a trigger movement which is trifle late compared to someone like Shubman Gill. If you watch closely, Karun's front-foot is still in the air at the point of release for a pace bowler. Now if the front-foot is in the air at that point it means if he wants to go on backfoot, he is being late.
"Now, you can handle a Woakes at his pace but Archer, Carse or even Stokes who can slip in a heavy delivery here and there can be difficult to handle," Gandhi explained.
But every technical glitch has a solution and Gandhi feels that at this stage of his career, there is only one way in case the burly Bengaluru man gets another opportunity.
"He needs to have an early trigger. That is doable or else, he has to have different triggers for bowlers with different pace. Now the second solution is a difficult one and it would need time and high end skills to have that adaptability."
India will play their next Test at the Old Trafford from July 23 and the team management has a good one week to take a call on whether Nair deserves one more opportunity.
Both Gandhi and former India wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta feel that perhaps it's time that Sai Sudharsan, who is believed to be the future of this Test team for the next decade, should be given a fair go.
"You have to look at the future. Karun is nearing 34 and Sai is 21. If you have already decided that you would invest in Sai then allow him to gain experience of playing Tests in England. He is a work in progress and will only get better," Dasgupta noted.
