After a prolonged wait on the sidelines and a melancholic social media post nearly three years back, Karun Nair has made a sensational reunion with cricket, scoring five hundreds in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Karun, who scored 779 runs at a mind-blowing average of 389.5 for Vidarbha, now looks hungry for runs, and is a far cry from the forlorn player who scribbled: "Dear Cricket, please give me another chance."
"The dream is always to play for the country. So, yes, the dream is still alive. That's the reason we play this game, to play for your country. So, the one and only goal was to play for the country," Karun told PTI on Friday.
But as someone who has endured massive setbacks and near-misses in his career, Karun does not want to think too far ahead.
"I think this is my third comeback (laughs). And I need to keep doing what I am doing at the moment. Keep scoring runs whenever I can in every single game that I play. That's the most that I can do. Everything else is not in my control.
"But till it (selection) happens, it's just a dream. It's still not there yet. But again, like I said, I would like to focus on one innings at a time," the 33-year-old said.
So, what has he done differently from the past to get back to his run-making ways?
"I've not done anything differently. There is no secret. I think it's just years of hard work and persistence, you know, the coming together of all of it. And probably you can say, taking each day as a new one and making sure that I respect every single innings that I play."
But there were days when the 33-year-old was apprehensive about his cricketing future, when runs totally dried up in domestic matches and in the IPL.
"I will be lying if I say I was not afraid. I think anyone would have those feelings. But I never had the thought that my career would end. I just had the thought of where it is going? What am I doing? How has this happened?
"It takes a while for you to come out of that phase and to understand what is happening and then what you are supposed to do. So, I told myself that I need to start from zero again.
"And give myself a few years and see where it goes. And then I can decide what to do. So, that was my thought process," he explained.
But the tough passage made him more aware about himself and his game.
"It was a tough situation to be in. Emotionally, mentally. But yeah, it really taught me a lot of things about myself as a person and about my cricket. So, I am really grateful for those learnings. Without that, I don't think I would be in this situation at the moment."