Nair avoids flair until no time to spare

A few weeks ago Karun Nair was working on a batting drill with Delhi Daredevils mentor Rahul Dravid that required him to strike balls rolled underarm along the ground.

"It was just putting my weight through the ball," Nair said, explaining the rationale behind the exercise. "When it's rolled, you have to actually go towards the ball and strike it. That was the only thinking behind it."

While every big hit of his surely cannot be attributed to the drill, it might have had a role to play in some of his shots in Friday night's game against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Look at the 17th over, for instance, where his pair of sixes - after JP Duminy's dismissal - was instrumental in bringing the target down from 42 off 24 balls to 28 off 18. The second of those sixes was a slower delivery from Barinder Sran, and Nair had to manufacture power to tonk it over midwicket. His pull off a slower ball from Moises Henriques in the ninth over was cast in the same mould too.

But impressively none of this was achieved in random spurts. Nair's innings, like it has been for most of the tournament, was easy-paced with gradual spikes in the scoring rate. From 18 off 12 balls, he went to 32 off 28, 50 off 42 and finally 83* in 59.

"That's how I bat at the start," Nair said of his approach. "I want to play normal cricket shots and hit the gaps. I was lucky that everything I hit went in the gaps."

Nair is one of three players - Amit Mishra and Sanju Samson being the other two - to have played all of Daredevils' 13 matches. The stat is important not only in the context of Daredevils' mercurial selection policy - they have made 33 changes to their XI in IPL 2016, and have not played the same team in successive matches - but also because of his role as a restorer in a fidgety top order. While he began the tournament batting at Nos. 4 and 5, he has since settled at No. 3. The significance of his role is accentuated by the fact that he has had to bat nine times inside the Powerplay.

After two solid half-centuries against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders, there was a string of 20s and 30s that needed to be fleshed out into meatier contributions. With the race for the playoff spots hotting up, this was the night to do it, especially after David Warner dropped him on 51. Nair thumped the pad with his bat in anger before immediately getting back into his cocoon of calm.

What's noteworthy is not just Nair's understanding of the larger picture - he worked out quickly that a total of around 160 was as good as 180 or 190 at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium - he also smartly handled the varying rhythms of an innings and the pressure that exponentially increased with every over. Be it playing a subdued role in the 73-run partnership with Rishabh Pant or his relentless attacks on the leg side - 64 off his runs came there - he was in complete control despite having a dot-ball percentage of 32. Nair put down such assurance to the exposure gained through performing well at the clutch for Karnataka at the domestic level.

"We [Karnataka] have been in situations like this in the past where they have been must-win situations," Nair said. "We have been lucky to have played many of these tight games."

A good example of his composure under pressure would be his boundary in the last over where, with six needed off two deliveries, he swatted Bhuvneshwar Kumar off a length down the ground with stunning bat speed despite being slightly beaten for pace. He pulled the next ball wide of mid-on, where a diving Warner couldn't stop the ball. Nair said he kept his mind uncluttered in the lead-up to the last two balls.

"I was just thinking of getting that one boundary," he said. "There was nothing going on in my mind apart from staying positive and staying still."

For a man who admitted to not partying at home after securing a fat IPL contract this season - "conservative family" - he was at the heart of a booming Daredevils party on the field.