Karun Nair, Karnataka's Marathon Man, One for Your Notebook

Day Three of the Ranji Trophy final between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in Mumbai may have been overshadowed by Shikhar Dhawan's World Cup century in Hamilton, but a 23-year-old still managed to grab the headlines with his batting skills. Karun Nair is one of the many upstarts in the IPL, but the 23-year-old showed that he has the ability to play the longer format by slamming a record triple century for Karnataka.

Karun Nair's 328 propelled Karnataka to a mammoth 762, leaving Tamil Nadu, all out for 134 in their first innings, a mountain to climb. For a No. 6 batsman to score a triple century is just fantastic and it was sweeter for Nair because he broke Gundappa Viswanath's 247 against Uttar Pradesh in 1977-78.

In recent times, Karnataka has produced youngsters who can bat in any format of the game. Lokesh Rahul, who scored 188 in Mumbai and shared a massive 386-run sixth wicket stand with Nair, has already found a toehold in the Indian Test squad and Nair's triple ton is good news for the national selectors, always on the lookout for quality youngsters capable of scoring big runs.

At stumps on Day 3 on Tuesday, Nair was batting on 310, having spent a solid 14 hours over two days. His 560-ball 328 had 46 fours and a six. Enough testimony to a young man's ability to put a price on his wicket.

"Karun's effort over the past two days is commendable. I watched him achieve the feat on television. Scoring 300-plus runs in a Ranji Trophy final is amazing. The delightful batsman's concentration was spot on," Viswanath told ESPNCricinfo.

"His temperament was brilliant and selection of shots commendable. He never took any risks and I would say it was batsmanship of the highest class. At the start of the match he was short of runs in the season, but he chose the right platform to beautifully showcase his craftsmanship after a well-made century the previous day," said Vishy.

As for Nair, he did the basics right. "I just applied myself and played to the merit of the ball. I just tried to play as long as possible and score as many runs as possible," he said, after his maiden triple century. "This was the first time I've batted so long, so I was pretty happy," he added.

The Jodhpur-born Nair bowls off-spins and is regarded as one of the brightest talents in IPL. In 2012, he started with the Royal Challengers Bangalore but switched to Rajasthan Royals in 2014. With Rahul Dravid as his mentor, Nair found the space and confidence to grow in the shortest format of the game. In 11 matches, he scored 330 runs with a top score of 73 not out.

But it will be his Ranji triple century that will augment his cricket career. India need Test players.