"Silence Of Not Being Out There": Ignored Karun Nair's Cryptic Post Amid India's Struggles vs South Africa

Karun Nair, Indian cricket team's star batter, who has been out of the side since the England tour in August, posted a cryptic sentence on Monday. The timing of the post coincided with India's on-field struggles against South Africa in the second Test in Guwahati, leading to speculation on social media. "Some conditions carry a feel you know by heart - and the silence of not being out there adds its own sting," he wrote.

Adei https://t.co/PiLMwlYoCe

— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) November 24, 2025

Nair's Test career has been stop-start, remembered most for his triple century against England in 2016. Since then, opportunities have been scarce, but his recent domestic form has been encouraging.

Ahead of the second Test, which Shubman Gill missed due to a neck injury, famous cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), listed the names of players he would prefer as Gill's replacement. Sitting at the No. 1 spot for Bhogle was Karun Nair, a run-machine in domestic cricket for India.

"In case Gill is unavailable, as seems increasingly likely, I think India need a right-hander in the middle order. I realise the next two are Padikkal and Sai Sudharsan, but seven left-handers in the top nine would be way too many. A short list would be Gaikwad, Sarfaraz & Patidar (if fit). But my inclination, for a one-off Test effectively, would be to pick a player in top form, someone like Karun Nair. India don't play again till July/Aug, so this would be horses for courses," Bhogle wrote in a post on X.

Karun played a pivotal role in helping Vidarbha win the Ranji Trophy last season. His Don Bradman-esque average in domestic red-ball cricket, however, didn't convert to useful performances on the England tour. The batter aggregated a total of 205 runs in eight innings at 25.62 with one half-century. The stats weren't enough for the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee to pick him for the West Indies series or even the India A games against South Africa A.

"Obviously, it is quite disappointing. After the last two years I've had, I think I deserved a lot better. More than a series," he said recently.

"There are certain individuals in the [Indian] team who have had good conversations with me about how they felt. That's about it. It does get into the head. But the second thought would be to do your job, which is to score runs and let people have their opinions."

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team South Africa Cricket Team Karun Nair Ravichandran Ashwin India vs South Africa 2025, India Cricket