Stardom comes with a price. India’s latest batting sensation Karun Nair realized this as he was forced to take the road route to Bangalore from Chennai in an attempt to escape the adulation after his epoch making knock. For the 25-year-old life has completely changed ever since he scored the unbeaten 303 against England in Chennai on Monday. The reticent Karun is finding it hard to cope up with his new found stardom and fame.
Ever since that knock Karun has had little time to rest. “I have got calls and from a lot of people-most of whom I don’t even know. It is nice to know that people now know me with this one knock. But I am not satisfied—I want to have more big knocks for Team India and I hope I can do that,” he said.
Karun, a Bangalore based Keralite, also revealed that his first century was the toughest. “Believe me, to cross the 100 mark against England was the toughest part. I was a bit circumspect and tentative during the initial part of my innings. Once I got my hundred it was like a monkey off my back and I stated to play more freely,” he said.
Karun’s reverse sweep against the England spinners earned him the respect of many cricketers, including Captain Virat Kohli. When asked how he had perfected this shot, Karun said it was sheer hard work.”I had worked extremely hard on perfecting this shot. Having played in the IPL, I knew the importance of this knock and worked very hard on it. I am extremely pleased that I could use it to good effect against the England bowlers,” he said.
When asked which cricketer was the greatest influence in his life, Karun took the names of Dravid and Kumble. “Both Dravid and Anil sir have had a big role to play in shaping my career. I happened to interact with Dravid sir when I was with the Rajasthan Royals and he helped me in many ways. I think he helped me to have faith in myself. Back then it was very crucial what he did since it helped me immensely to take control of myself early on in my career,” he said.
As regards Kumble, Karun said he knew Kumble for a long time. “When someone plays a test for team India it’s a huge challenge. And this is where Kumble sir came in. He calmed my nerves and told me to play my natural game. I think this is where his (Kumble’s) role was so crucial,” said Karun.
Meanwhile, Karun’s father Kaladharan Nair felt it was his son’s commitment that had seen him scale the heights. “Right from age 10, cricket was in his blood and he has come up the hard way by playing. He played five years of first class cricket and then two years in the Ranji circuit before reaching here,» said the senior Nair to the media, mighty pleased with his son›s historic achievement.
And to a question on what he would say to his son when he meets him, he said: «Even though I was in the stadium, I met him only in the evening at the hotel.
Nair›s mother, who too was at the Chidambaram Stadium, said he was born premature and «the doctors advised us that he should always be made to exert and we did that and he learned cricket by playing on the streets right from a very early age. We just can›t control our emotions… we just wished he dons the India colours and he did that. After that, today when he went out to bat we wished that he scores a century. And see, he has scored a triple,» said Karun›s mother, visibly moved.