Still remember a prominent Indian cricketer calling me and saying you need to retire: Nair

India batter Karun Nair, who is eyeing a return to the national Test side after an eight-year hiatus, revealed in a recent interview that he was once advised by a senior cricketer to retire and focus solely on T20 leagues for financial security.

Nair, now 33, made his Test debut in 2016 against England in Mohali and shot to fame with an unbeaten 303 in just his third Test, in Chennai. Despite the historic triple-century, he featured in only three more Tests — against Australia in 2017, before being dropped due to a lean patch.

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“I still remember a prominent Indian cricketer calling me and saying you need to retire because the money in these leagues would make me secure. It would have been easy to do but I knew that regardless of the money, I would be kicking myself for giving up that easily,” Nair said in an interview with Daily Mail.

“I was never going to give up on playing for India again. That was just over two years ago and look where we are now,’ he insists. It’s crazy, but deep down, I knew I was good enough,” he added.

Despite enduring setbacks and being out of the spotlight for over a year without any competitive cricket after 2022, Nair remained focused on his goal. His resurgence began with a County stint at Northamptonshire, which helped reignite his form and confidence.

“It was next to nothing, but I didn’t care because that was the opportunity I was desperate for. I went straight to Birmingham, had one net session and the day after, scored 78 at Edgbaston,” he said.

A week later, he followed it up with a 150 against Surrey at The Oval, coincidentally, the same ground where he once thought his India recall would happen back in 2018.

“I remember standing on the balcony and soaking it in and thinking about everything that had happened five years before and how it had to come back full circle. With the happiness involved, it’s my most satisfying innings because I knew it was all about coming here and scoring runs. When you score runs in county cricket, people in India take note and listen. People like Rahul Dravid and Sourav

Ganguly all messaged me to say congratulations,” he recalled.

Nair changed his domestic team from Karnataka to Vidarbha in 2023 and made an immediate impact. He scored 690 runs in 10 matches that season and followed it up with 863 runs in nine Ranji Trophy games in 2024, including four centuries, one of which came in the final, helping Vidarbha lift the title.

He also impressed in the white-ball format, scoring 779 runs in just eight innings in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, including five centuries. His performances earned him a contract with Delhi Capitals, who bought him for ₹50 lakh in the 2025 IPL mega auction.

Reflecting on his journey and the desire to don the Indian whites again, Nair shared a deeply personal moment. “I manifested playing for India. There was a domestic game last year where they played the national anthem, and we were standing in a line, and I got that feeling of ‘Oh, I need this to happen again’ and picturing myself in Indian whites,” he said.