Karun Nair of Delhi Capitals acknowledges the crowd during their IPL 2025 match against Mumbai Indians. (Sportzpics for IPL)
Having last played in the Indian Premier League in the 2022 season for Rajasthan Royals, Karun Nair made the most of his second chance on Sunday, scoring a 40-ball 89 for Delhi Capitals while they chased Mumbai Indians’ target of 206. Delhi eventually unravelled in the 19th over and fell short by 12 runs, but not before Nair had stamped his class.
Nair was picked by Delhi Capitals in the IPL auction for Rs 50 lakh after he was the leading run scorer in the 2024 Vijay Hazare Trophy with 779 runs, where he scored five centuries at a strike-rate of 124. He also managed to score 1870 runs for Vidarbha across formats on the domestic circuit.
After the game, Nair was asked about the time away from the IPL.
“Honestly, I had the confidence that I’ve played [IPL] before and I know how it’s going to be, and it’s nothing different that I’m going to be facing… (it wasn’t) anything new. So, in my mind, it was just about going out there and giving myself a few balls and just getting used to the speed of the game again and the atmosphere,” said Nair about his thought process in the game against Mumbai which was his first match for Delhi in IPL 2025.
“So I just told myself, ‘give yourself the time, play normal shots and then, you know, improvise when needed’. Fortunately, everything came off, and I’m happy that I batted well. But again, I would have loved that if the team had gone on to win,” said Nair.
“We always knew – the few of us batters who are sitting outside who should be and have to be ready at any given time. So, mentally, I was ready, and obviously looking forward to the chance, whenever it came. I felt confident. I felt like, I’m well prepared to play in the IPL if given the opportunity.”
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