In 2016, Karun Nair became just the second batter in the history of Indian Test Cricket to hit a triple century in Test Cricket. He was the first batter other than Virender Sehwag to do so and he did so while batting at number 5. England were one of the best teams in the world at that time and for him to play like this was an all time moment for him. He did not get to play much Test Cricket after that but he will always be part of history.
Let’s talk about that Triple Hundred by Karun Nair against England
Karun Nair creates history in 2016
It was the test match in Chennai in 2016 which was 7 years ago. England batted first and they batted well and made 477 runs in the first innings and they gave India a tough total to chase and get a lead from. Moeen Ali hit a brilliant century in 262 balls while hitting 13 fours and 1 six. In reply India got off to the perfect start as KL Rahul hit a wonderful 199 runs and he just fell short by 1 run. He hit 16 fours and 3 sixes meaning 82 runs in boundaries and he ran for 117 of his runs. He still had a good strike rate of 64. Then the middle order was not able to do much until Karun Nair got to the crease. Till the time he was at the crease, the match was even and any team could have got the advantage.
Karun Nair came into bat at number 5 and he started smashing the England bowlers to all parts. England had Stuart Broad, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid etc and yet they were not able to stop him. He went in his innings and he played for 381 balls and he smashed 32 hours and 4 sixes meaning 152 runs in boundaries. He ran for 151 of his runs meaning 50% of his runs and still yet had an incredible strike rate of 79.53. To hit 303 not out from 381 balls at number 5 is simply a mind blowing achievement. Karun Nair had cemented himself in the history books as one of the best test match batters from India and since he hit this Triple hundred, no other Indian batter has come close in 7 years.
The tragic part about all this is that Karun Nair did not get the proper chances to show that he can be a consistent batter for the Indian team for years to come. If a player scores a triple century, Surely he deserves at least 10 Test Matches the trot to show his skills. However, he will always be in the rarest of rare 300 clubs in which only 26 Batters are present. India won this test match by an innings and 75 runs even after both teams batting for so long in the first innings. Ravindra Jadeja took 7 wickets in the second England batting innings.
Find out here: Who scored first 300 in test cricket
