What’s the story?
Delhi Daredevils youngster Karun Nair, who scored a match-winning 45-ball 64 against Rising Pune Supergiant on Friday to help his side clinch a seven-run consolation win in their penultimate match of the 2017 IPL, expressed his gratitude to mentor Rahul Dravid for backing him despite a lengthy lean run with the bat.
The 25-year-old has endured tough times since scoring a triple century against England in the fifth and final Test of the series back in November 2016. His performances in the IPL had also been pretty poor with the acting skipper of the side scoring just 191 runs in his 12 matches heading into the match against RPS.
The hard-hitting batsman, however, proved his critics wrong with a superb knock and praised Rahul Dravid, who has been his mentor, right from his days at Rajasthan Royals.
“Rahul sir has been a great inspiration for me, it’s my fourth year in IPL with him,” Nair said. “I’m grateful for the support that I’ve received from him, even during the first half of the tournament, when I wasn’t doing too well. He’s backed me throughout.”
In case you didn’t know...
The triple century at Mohali no doubt heightened the expectations from Nair who has unfortunately been weighed down by the pressure at both the international and domestic level. He failed to make any meaningful contribution during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia and had been restricted to a few good starts alone in the IPL.
Things changed, however, on Friday as Nair played effortless cricket to help his side set up a target of 168 at the tricky Feroz Shah Kotla surface. The victory margin of seven runs shows how crucial Nair’s knock turned out to be in the end and he will be hopeful that the tide has finally changed for the better.
Extra Cover: Karun Nair's roller coaster journey in cricket
The heart of the matter
Opting to bat first after winning the toss, Delhi were in a spot of bother losing the wickets of the in-form duo of Sanju Samson and Shreyas Iyer within the first couple of overs. However, Nair, along with Rishabh Pant - who played a good cameo of 36 runs from 22 balls - steadied the ship for his side and eventually helped his side overcome the IPL Top four contenders in a tightly fought contest.
The victory may be inconsequential for Delhi with the franchise not in contention for a spot in the knockout stages of the competition but with four wins from their last five matches, things have finally started to fall in piece for the Zaheer Khan led side, who had Nair stepping up for three matches in the veteran pacer’s absence.
Having risen through the ranks for Karnataka, Nair has always looked upon Dravid as his mentor and with the latter spending his final days in the IPL at Rajasthan Royals, the duo certainly shares a close connection – something which has been carried forward with both ending up at Delhi following the suspension of RR.
Not one to be faced with criticism, Dravid has ensured that his disciples also maintain a strong mentality and Nair has definitely shown that during his lean patch as he stuck to his basics and was ultimately rewarded with his match-winning knock on Friday.
What’s next?
Delhi Daredevils, as well as Nair himself, will be hoping to end their 2017 IPL campaign on a high in their final fixture against a struggling Royal Challengers Bangalore side on Sunday.
While Mumbai Indians have already secured their spot in the knockout stages of the competition, the standings of none of the top four sides have been finalised heading into the final round of fixtures over the weekend.
Extra Cover: IPL 2017: Best and worst scenarios for the five sides attempting to make the playoffs
Author’s take
With a proven track record in the domestic circuit, Karun Nair is certainly one for the future and it was only going to be a matter of time before he turned around his lean patch. Every cricketer goes through a dip in form but what is important is that the player possesses the mental toughness to shake off that bad patch and get back in touch.
With Dravid by his side, Nair is certainly in good company and let’s hope that Friday’s knock was just a sign of things to come.
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
