Karun Nair had asked the universe to give him one more chance. The 33-year-old batter got three in the five-match Test series between England and India before he was excluded from the fourth Test in Manchester. What went wrong? Nair’s bat has not produced any big innings so far with 40 in the first innings of Lord’s Test being his highest score so far in the Anderson–Tendulkar Trophy. With scores of 14(33), 40(62), 26(46), 31(50), 20(54) and 0(4) behind him, Nair was made to sit out while Sai Sudharsan returned to the squad. Were the selectors too harsh in their choice or made the right decision? Career End? Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif asserted that captain Shubman Gill should have backed Nair who is struggling to get going and score big for the country in all-whites. Kaif added that Gill may have missed an opportunity to making a tough decision as the pack leader. “Today was Shubman Gill’s chance to back karun who was down but deserved one more chance. He should have picked Karun Nair. Chance missed to earn the respect when it comes to making tough decisions as a leader (sic).” Users on X wondered if Nair’s Test career, that saw a gap of eight years, may have come to an abrupt and cruel end. End of Karun Nair’s test career. Don’t know if it’s harsh. But he certainly can’t complain much having got 6 chances on great batting pitches and not being able to make it count even once. At 32-33, there’s no likelihood for more chances now. Also Read: MKBHD’s Escobar Fold Scam Episode Comes To A Poetic End: A Complete Timeline “Karun Nair is the only batter to finish his test career under 1000 runs despite a triple century,” sports journalist Himanshu Pareek remarked. Fair or Unfair? “Karun Nair was literally dropped from his State Ranji team, he had to go else where and restart his career from zero . People keep bringing his tweet up . Him representing ICT again after everything he went through is a W itself man, (sic)” an ICT fan expressed. Gill’s tough call was the right one because of Nair’s lack of contribution in the middle order, a user wrote. “Out of all the batters only Karun nair hasn’t scored enough runs he doesn’t deserve that backing. I have seen this average players whine over another average player. Also Gill has earned a respect by taking tough call. Another tough call is to trust Anshul Kamboj.” Gautam Gambhir, the Head coach, wasn’t left out from the raging debate. “Sai Sudharsan young talent made his debut and was dropped without reason. Then they brought in Karun Nair 3 dropped him after 3 matches and brought Sai back. If they wanted to play Sai again, why drop him in the first place especially in OS Tests. Gambhir has no idea in Tests,” a fan wondered. Some chose to exhibit their feelings via memes. You can see the exact moment, Karun Nair's heart breaks pic.twitter.com/sIkSQLTpci — Sank (@CricketIsSimple) July 23, 2025 Karun Nair : Dear Cricket give me one more chance. Cricket rn: pic.twitter.com/prplGm3hct — Abhishek (@MSDianAbhiii) July 13, 2025 Also Read: Who Is Conner Estelle And Why Is Internet Celebrating ‘Fascist’ Losing His Job? India lost 14th toss on a trot, the probability of that being 16384/1. The visiting squad were asked to bat first. Yashasvi Jaiwal (58) and KL Rahul (46) provided India a solid start but failed to convert their starts into big scores. The duo put up an opening partnership of 94. KL was the first to depart in the 30th over when he edged one of Chris Woakes’ deliveries. His partner, Jaiswal, joined him in the pavilion after about 10 overs as he too edged one and was removed by Liam Dawson. India may have ended the day with 264/4 on the scoreboard but Rishabh Pant’s freak injury could be a serious cause of concern. Pant, batting at 37, attempted to reverse sweep Woakes’ yorker when he was hit on his right boot. When the shoe came off, the visuals weren’t pretty. Pant had a swollen and bruised foot and appeared to be in a lot of pain so much so that he had to be carted off the field at the Old Trafford Stadium.