Chennai: Karun Nair smashed an unbeaten 303 as India piled on the misery for England on the fourth day of the fifth Test in Chennai Monday.
Here are five facts about the batsman and his sensational innings:
— The 25-year-old was playing in just his third Test match. The previously unheralded right-hander had never played a Test for India before the start of the current series against England.
— Monday’s huge knock against England, which included 32 fours and four sixes off 381 balls, was not Nair’s first triple century. In March last year, he scored a match-winning 310 not out for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy, India’s domestic first-class competition.
— Nair, who was born in Jodhpur in the northern state of Rajasthan, becomes only the second cricketer ever to score a triple century for India. Legendary big-hitter Virender Sehwag did it twice, scoring 319 in 2008 against South Africa at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium — the same venue as for Nair’s feat. Sehwag’s first triple century was in 2004. “Yay! Welcome to the 300 club @karun126. It was very lonely here for the last 12 years 8 months. Wish you the very best Karun. Maza aa gaya (It was fun)!” he tweeted on Monday.
— Nair became only the third batsman to convert a maiden Test hundred into a triple century, joining the elite company of West Indies’ Garry Sobers (365 not out) and Australia’s Bob Simpson (311).
— Nair has been something of a T20 specialist throughout his career so far. In the 2016 Indian Premier League auction, Nair was sold for 40 million rupees ($5.89 million) to Delhi Daredevils — 40 times his base price of one million rupees. Even though the franchise failed to make it to the playoffs, Nair was the second highest run-getter for his side, behind South African Quinton de Kock.
Agence France-Presse