ICC Champions Trophy 2025: KL Rahul mentioned as Aakash Chopra happy to ignore Karun Nair: “It’s a joke…”
Indian cricketer-turned-commentator, Aakash Chopra, has shared his thoughts on Karun Nair’s omission from India’s ODI squads for the upcoming home series against England and the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which many may not like.
Karun Nair impressed one and all with his incredible performances in the recent Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25, where he finished as the leading scorer with 779 runs with the help of five hundreds in just eight innings at an incredible average of 389.50 and a strike rate of 124.
After his record-breaking performance in the 50-over tournament, many have been calling for his return to India for the upcoming three-match ODI series and the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Unfortunately, the Indian selectors ignored the Vidarbha captain for India.
Aakash Chopra defends Indian selectors’ decision to ignore Karun Nair for ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
The BCCI and Indian selectors’ decision to ignore Karun Nair for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025 has been roundly condemned by many former cricketers and fans, but Aakash Chopra felt it was justified to invite more criticism. The commentator believes that the selectors did not make wrong decisions.
Aakash Chopra said Karun Nair’s Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 campaign was outstanding but it will not be fair to others to overlook him for a player based on a good record in just one tournament for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
In a video posted on his YouTube channel, the cricket pundit explained why Nair failed to replace established players like KL Rahul and Shubman Gill in the 15-member squad for the upcoming assignments. Defending the national selectors’ decision, Chopra stressed that consistent performances are crucial for India’s selection, not just one tournament.
How can one be selected based on one performance of Vijay Hazare? – Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra said in his YouTube video, “There is a crusade going on that Karun Nair should have been in the team. Because he has scored so many runs, he said he is not knocking on the door, he is just breaking it down. I saw somewhere that it was said that KL Rahul should be dropped. He has an average of 58 at No. 4 and No. 5. He played well at the World Cup.”
The former Indian batsman further explained, “Someone said that Shubman Gill should be dropped. It’s a joke that someone who has worked consistently should be kicked out and someone else brought in. Karun Nair, Vijay Hazare’s one-year performance has been outstanding. Such performances should definitely be noticed, but are you going to pick someone based on one Vijay Hazare performance? Will that be okay because it’s just one tournament?”
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Aakash Chopra highlights Karun Nair’s results in the last two seasons of the Vijay Hazare Trophy to prove his point
Justifying the selectors’ call, Chopra highlighted Nair’s numbers in the last two Vijay Hazare Trophy seasons, where he managed just 230 runs at an average of 46 last season and was dropped by Karnataka the previous season.
He signed off by saying, “He almost quit cricket but his family asked him to play by going elsewhere and find pastures new.” Notably, Nair last played for India in 2017 and has played only two ODIs so far, scoring 46 runs at an average of 23.00.
