Despite Harbhajan Singh's words of encouragement for Karun Nair, the BCCI ended up snubbing the Vidarbha batter from India's Champions Trophy 2025 squad which was announced on Saturday, January 18.
Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav all made a comeback to the ODI squad but there was no place for Karun Nair despite his constant run in this year's Vijay Hazare Trophy.
He has had a brilliant campaign in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy scoring 752 runs in seven innings and averaging a staggering 752. Previously, Harbhajan Singh had backed Nair's selection for the Champions Trophy. However, as it turned out, there was no spot for the Vidarbha batter in the 15-member side.
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Nair scored four hundreds in the tournament and ended up scoring 779 runs helping him become the Player Of The Series. Nair the Vidarbha skipper scored just 27 runs in the final against Karnataka as the side went onto lose the final by 36 runs. He had scores of 112, 44, 163, 111, 112, 122, 88 and 27 and was dismissed in the tournament twice.
With Karun Nair being ignored from selection, Harbhajan took to his official Twitter handle and slammed the BCCI and the selection committee for ignoring him. "Is there a point playing Domestic cricket when you don't pick players based on form & performance?," Harbhajan posted on X.
Ajit Agarkar On Karun Nair's Selection
During the press conference, Ajit Agarkar too admitted that it was indeed tough to include Karun in a squad of 15 in the current situation.
"But at the moment, to find a spot in this team is very difficult. I mean, look at the guys who've been picked. All average well in excess of mid-40s. So, unfortunately, you can't fit everyone in. It's a squad of 15. But those performances (like Karun) certainly make you take notice," he added.
Nair who last played for India in 2017, is only the second Indian alongside Virender Sehwag to score a triple century in Test cricket.
India's Champions Trophy 2025 Squad
Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill (vice-capt), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja
