3 reasons why India dropping Karun Nair from squad for IND vs WI 2025 Tests is the wrong move

Team India batter Karun Nair was excluded from the 15-member squad for the upcoming home Test series against the West Indies, starting October 2. His comeback to the Indian Test side after eight years lasted just the one series in England.

The 33-year-old flattered to deceive in the UK tour, finishing with an average of 25.62 in the four Tests he played, despite consistently getting off to starts.

Nair admitted to being disappointed with his omission immediately after the squad for the West Indies series was announced.

"Yes, I did expect the selection. I don’t know what to say. No words. You should probably ask the selectors what they are thinking. In the last Test match, I scored a fifty when no one else managed in the first innings. I thought I contributed to the team, especially in the last game that we won. But it is what it is," he said (via Zee News).

While India boasts an embarrassment of riches when it comes to talented batters, Nair's exclusion still comes off as a surprise.

On that note, let us look at three key reasons why Team India were wrong to drop Karun Nair for the upcoming West Indies series.

#1 Decision made on a lone England tour - More premature than progressive

Karun Nair scored tons of runs in domestic cricket after his dropping from the Indian Test side in 2018 to stage an inspiring comeback. However, the veteran batter got a raw deal as his litmus test for sustained selection.

The 33-year-old played all four of his comeback Tests on the challenging English pitches in a high-pressure series. While Nair could have helped himself by scoring big once set, the right-hander looked the part for most of the series.

He reached double-digit scores in seven out of his eight innings and crossed 25 in half of the innings he played in England. It is a well-known fact that most Indian batters thrive in home conditions and occasionally struggle in SENA conditions.

Given that, Nair should have been awarded at least another chance, especially at home, before deciding on his selection. It goes without saying that several Indian cricketers have historically endured worse series in a country like England, yet received further opportunities to prove their worth at home before the selectors took any major decision.

#2 Karun Nair ticks the crucial 'What have you done for me lately?' box

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar mentioned Karun Nair's exclusion was due to his overall performance in England. While those statements aren't completely off, a closer look might justify the sentiments on why the Karnataka batter's dropping is a tad unfair.

The right-hander had a highest score of only 31 in his first four innings in the England Tests. Yet, in a low-scoring Lord's Test, Nair scored a valuable 40 in the first innings. Most importantly, the seasoned batter produced his best in the series finale, which Indian famously won by six runs. Nair top-scored for India with a well-paced 57 in their first innings total of just 224.

Considering the slim margin of victory, one can easily make the case that the 33-year-old was the difference between a jubilant 2-2 result and a third consecutive Test series loss at 1-3.

It is not often that a batter gets dropped a match after he top-scored for his side in one of the two innings, and the result is a series-leveling victory. The decision feels further rushed, considering the match-winning half-century came in alien English conditions.

#3 Karun Nair's potential competitors did not break the selection door open

Team India's 15-member squad for the West Indies series had around 12 players who selected themselves. Hence, Karun Nair's battle was always with the other three, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, and Nitish Kumar Reddy, when it came to selection.

While the trio each had age on their side, it is hard to make a firm case for either of the three as definitively better than Karun Nair. Sai played his first-ever Test series in the England tour and produced similar results to Nair.

Playing a Test fewer, Sai averaged 23.33 to Nair's 25.62 in six innings with a lone half-century. While Nitish's selection case is bolstered by his ability with the ball, his batting in England was shockingly poor.

The youngster averaged a dismal 11.25 in four innings with a highest score of only 30 on the UK tour. Meanwhile, Padikkal's last Test appearance came in the series opener in Australia last year, where he looked completely out of sorts and scored 25 runs across the two innings.

While Sai and Padikkal have helped their cause with a couple of solid performances for India A in the Australia A series, their recent showing in the Indian whites has been slightly worse than Nair's.

Thus, Nair could feel hard done by his non-selection over all three above-mentioned players in favorable home conditions against a relatively weak West Indian side.