England vs India: Sunil Gavaskar feels Sarfaraz Khan should take inspiration from Karun Nair

The Ajit Agarkar-led National Selection Committee took a really important selection call on Saturday (May 24) when they included Karun Nair in the 18-member India squad for the upcoming five-match Test series against England. Interestingly, the right-handed batter played his last Test match against Australia at home in 2017, but after some sensational performances in the domestic circuit, he almost broke all the selection doors and eventually the BCCI selectors had to pick him for the England tour. The future of Indian Test cricket is currently under turmoil especially in the batting department with the legendary pair of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma taking retirements from the longer format of the game. 

Interestingly, Karun Nair first came into the limelight when he composed a wonderful triple century against England in 2016, where he became the only second triple centurion for India after Virender Sehwag. However, leading to different factors, he quickly vanished from the Indian set up and now after almost 8 years, the 33-year-old has made a comeback into the national team. On the other hand, things have been really tough for right-hand batter Sarfaraz Khan who has not been picked in the India Test squad for the England tour. 

Incidentally, Sarfaraz Khan had a lovely start to his Test career as he scored an excellent half-century against England at home. The swashbuckling right-hander smashed a staggering 150-run innings against New Zealand in 2024, but after that knock, he struggled big time during the next two Test matches. He did not got a single game in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar feels that Sarfaraz Khan should take inspiration from Karun Nair to make a comeback into the Indian Test side. 

"Even Jaydev played his first Test at a very young age, and then it took 13 years or so to play another Test. He persevered, he went on picking wickets in domestic cricket. Like Unadkat, Karun has kept on scoring big hundreds. That's why the selection committee had to bring him back. A man in form is one of your best bets. He is scoring runs, he also got the experience of County Championships. A very good call to bring him back to Indian cricket," stated former Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar in a recent interview. 

"It's tough, that's what cricket is all about. When you get opportunities, you have to make sure the place is yours. Even if you score a hundred, you should make sure that you don't go into your next innings thinking you scored a hundred in the previous knock. You have to get your eye in and get those runs again. You must not give anybody a chance to push you out of the team," he added. 

India Test squad for England tour

Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC) (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav