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The right-handed batter was in red-hot form for Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2025 match played against Mumbai Indians at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Sunday (April 13).
Wasim Jaffer wants Karun Nair in Indian Test team for England series. (Picture Credit: AP)
Former Indian opening batter Wasim Jaffer, who has now donned the hat of an expert, was very impressed with Karun Nair’s super show with the bat in the IPL 2025 match played between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Sunday (April 13). Karun came to bat at No. 3 for the Delhi-based franchise in the 206-run chase against MI and, with the help of 12 fours and 5 sixes, scored 89 runs from 40 balls.
During his stay at the crease, he hammered MI bowlers, including Jasprit Bumrah, to all corners of the ground. He was, however, not able to help his side extend their winning run to five matches in a row.
Impressed by Nair’s batting, Jaffer, while speaking on the ESPN Cricinfo show, praised his performance and said that he would like to see the right-handed batter in the Indian Test team for the upcoming tour of England.
India will travel to England in June for a five-match Test series that starts on June 20 at Headingley in Leeds. India last won a red-ball series in England during the 2007 tour under Rahul Dravid’s leadership.
“Fantastic. And the way he (Nair) took on Bumrah as well. I mean, nobody takes on as good as Bumrah. But he came on, and he was looking like he was a man possessed. And he played all around the park. And he didn’t look like the guy was away from the IPL scene for so long. But I’m really happy to see him bat like that. I said before as well that he should have been given the opportunity because the kind of form that he carried in first-class cricket should have been given more opportunity before Samir Rizvi. But I’m really happy for him, even though it came in a losing cause,” Jaffer said.
“I mean, for somebody who’s got a triple hundred in Test cricket, not many have done that. He had few failures after that, understandably. But he was somebody who got runs consistently in first-class cricket. And I was surprised that Karnataka also dropped him for him to move to Vidarbha, which I found very strange for somebody who’s got so many runs consistently. And then for him to go and do things like what he did in Vidarbha, scoring consistently.”
“It’s very difficult to keep motivating yourself. But I really like that he’s very composed, mentally very stable and technically pretty strong. That’s why, you know, he gets runs across all formats. And I won’t be surprised. I mean, this is IPL, but, you know, I would like to see him go to the England Test series as one of the batters,” he added.
