The 33-year-old Karun Nair has impressed everyone with fine form, scoring a double century for India A against England Lions in the first Unofficial Test in Canterbury.

This marks the fourth time Karun Nair has scored 200 or more in an innings. His highest first-class score is 328 for Karnataka against Tamil Nadu in the 2015/16 season. On two of the three occasions where Nair crossed 200, he remained unbeaten.

This also marks his second double century in England after scoring an unbeaten 202 runs for Northampton against Glamorgan in 2024. Karun Nair is also the second Indian batter, after Virender Sehwag to score a triple century in Test Cricket.

Karun Nair was give a standing ovation at the St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury after he reached his double hundred while playing against England Lions on Saturday, May 31.

His return to the Indian Test team, gave a tremendous audition for the No.3 spot completing his double century in 272 balls.

Batting in the morning session of Day 02, in the 101st over of the match, Karun Nair pulled pacer Eddie Jack for four, reaching the milestone. This also helped India crossed the 450-run mark against England Lions, setting up a daunting total for them in the first tour game of the series.

He showed immense calm after reaching his double century. He did not roar, nor did he jump high in the sky. He simply stepped down the pitch, removed the helmet and kissed the Indian flag, probably thanking cricket for giving him a second chance.

India A started off their day in style with both Karun and Dhruv Jurel looking in great touch. Dhruv Jurel, who finished the Indian Premier League in tremendous form, played some beautiful straight drives to race to 94. The batter failed to convert his innings to a much-deserved century, edging the ball to the first slip in the 95th over of the game.

The batter has put himself in the forefront for the No.3 position in the England series. Karun Nair’s maturity and able to keep the team stable in the morning hours could turn out to be of huge asset to India, who would be looking for some experience in the top order.

After the retirement of Virat Kohli, it is likely that Shubman Gill will be batting at No.4 position, which will leave the No.3 spot empty in the team. If India set to open with KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal in the Test matches, Karun Nair is likely to trump Sai Sudharsan for that position.

Karun Nair has seized the opportunity with Vidarbha in the tournament, hitting 863 runs in nine matches at an average of 54. That included four hundreds and two fifties. One of those centuries came in the final, against non other than Kerala, helping Vidarbha lift the title.

He went on to score 779 runs in eight innings of the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy including five centuries.