India vs England 2016: Karun Nair speaks about his rivalry with KL Rahul

Karun Nair was at the non-striker’s end when his state mate and close friend KL Rahul came agonisingly close to a maiden double ton. The atmosphere at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai had suddenly turned sour. However, the 25-year old carried on to register India‘s third ever individual triple century and consequently sent the arena into delirium.

Despite putting on 161 runs for the fourth wicket alongside Rahul and compiling a mammoth knock himself, he admitted to feeling bad for the opening batsman who fell short of a landmark by a solitary run.

Nair felt, “We started playing cricket together and have been together since then. At every stage, if he has gone ahead I have caught up. Or if I have gone ahead, he has caught up. That healthy rivalry is good. I feel bad for him that he didn’t get the double hundred, but he will get one very soon.”

The duo would have known each other game’s inside out after stitching together plenty of partnerships for Karnataka in the domestic circuit. Interestingly, they had shared a similar stand during the 2015 Ranji Trophy final against Tamil Nadu. While Rahul was dismissed for 188, Nair went on to score a 560-ball 328.

When asked about the difference between his two triple tons he insisted, “There is a big difference. This is a Test match, a far bigger achievement for me. But having said so, that innings was more taxing. I played a lot longer. I played for over two days there. Still, the Chennai heat does get to you. It is just an amazing moment in my career to get such a milestone and I’d like to just go on.”

A major talking point of the day was the timing of the declaration from the Indians. Nair was batting on 247 when the lead trickled over the 200-run mark. However, there was no signal from the dressing room and inevitably the triple century loomed.

He revealed, “It (the triple century) never crossed my mind. Once I crossed 250, the team management had certain plans of going after the bowling and declaring. I think within the space of five overs, I got to 280-285. That’s when I started thinking and Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) kept egging me on to not throw it away and get to 300 easily.”

“Obviously, there were some nerves going on. You can’t be thinking negative at that point. You have to watch the ball and get over that moment. You have to feel that moment, being there. There are a lot of things that go in my head that I want to do but at that moment it just doesn’t come out. I think I will just have to get more hundreds for me to show emotion.”

Nair’s emergence has tightened the competition for the batting spots and the team management will certainly have a huge selection dilemma on their hands when Ajinkya Rahane comes back from his finger injury.