Former India cricketer and ex-chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar has expressed surprise at the exclusion of middle-order batsman Karun Nair from the national side’s squad for the two-Test series against West Indies.
Nair, just the second Indian batsman after Virender Sehwag to smash a triple-century, was forced to warm the bench through the team’s five-Test series in England, even as Hanuma Vihari got a game after joining the side midway through the series.
“The way Karun has been dropped is quite baffling, to say the least. He scored a triple century in a Test against England at home not so long ago. Scoring a triple ton in any grade of cricket is an outstanding feat and not many have scored a triple ton in Test cricket,” Vengsarkar was quoted as saying by Times of India.
“However, since then, he has been out of the playing eleven, and even when he was in the squad, Vihari was flown in from India and was preferred to Karun for the last Test at the Oval, which I feel is not only demeaning for the batsman but most unfair. Only the wise men of Indian cricket can explain why such a treatment is being meted out to a Test triple centurion. The entire case is quite intriguing,” added Vengsarkar.