&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "England Lions vs India-A, Day 1: Karun Nair stays unbeaten on 186, Test hopefuls among runs")
Karun Nair made merry on day one of India-A’s first unofficial Test against England Lions in Canterbury, scoring an unbeaten 186, with Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel hitting respective fifties. India-A batters piled up runs at will, ending the day on 409 for three. Though Sarfaraz is not part of the 18-man squad picked for the five-match Test series starting June 20 in Leeds, Nair and Jurel pressed their cases for a spot in the India XI for the England Tests.
India-A opener and skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran departed early inside the first hour, while his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal departed shortly before lunch. Overcast weather and seaming conditions did make it challenging for the India-A in the first hour, but Nair, batting at three and alongside Sarfaraz, took the game away from the Lions soon after. The pair began finding gaps at will, completing their respective fifties and marching towards the three-digit score.
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Though the left-arm seamer Josh Hull, who trapped Easwaran in the front on eight, accounted for Sarfaraz on a well-made 92, Nair stood his ground, hitting cuts, uppercuts, punched drives, pulls, inside-out drives and several reverse sweeps to keep the Indian fans and selectors interested. He completed his hundred, his 24th First-class century, with the crowd at the St Lawrence Ground cheering for the Test hopeful.
Nair stitched a massive 181-run stand with Sarfaraz for the third wicket and later 177 and counting with Dhruv Jurel, part of the Test squad, for the fourth before the stumps. Like how he did it in the past, Nair quietly hogged all the limelight on day one of a lengthy England tour.
Meanwhile, Nair, 33, has played six Test matches, the last of which came eight years ago in 2017. In only his third Test against England (in Chennai), Nair became only the second Indian after former opener Virender Sehwag to hit a Test triple hundred, smashing a record 303.
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However, with seniors like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired from Tests, the selectors have thrown support behind Nair to fill up the vacant top-order spot with his experience. He, alongside KL Rahul in the top four, could do wonders for India in this new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle and help them realise their dream of winning one.
