Karun Nair to return home to Karnataka for 2025-26 domestic season

Karun Nair, currently with the India team playing Test cricket in England, is set to return to Karnataka three seasons after his last appearance for the team. Nair, who was with Vidarbha the past two seasons, received a no-objection-certificate (NOC) from the Vidarbha Cricket Association on Monday evening, allowing him to turn out for his original state team.

"I'd like to thank VCA for everything they've done for me in the last two years," Nair said in a statement. "Whatever I've achieved in the last two years is credit to how they managed me and took care of me like I was their own. Grateful to the VCA, and all the players and support staff.

"As a team, we achieved special things. The atmosphere was so positive. The opportunity to lead such an amazing bunch during the Vijay Hazare and achieving success in the Ranji Trophy is something I'll look back on very fondly."

Nair's return to Karnataka comes at a time when his stocks have risen considerably from the time he had left. Having been a central figure in Vidarbha's run to their third Ranji Trophy title earlier this year, Nair earned a recall to India's Test squad after more than eight years on the back of his 863 runs in 16 innings with four centuries at 53.93. This included a match-winning century in the final against Kerala - Kerala, interestingly, had been keen on signing Nair around the time he was left out of the Karnataka squad in 2021-22.

Nair also had a record-breaking run in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he captained Vidarbha to a runners-up finish. He made a chart-topping 779 runs in eight innings, with five consecutive hundreds, while striking at 124.01. During the tournament, he set a new List A record of scoring the most runs (542) without being dismissed.

He hasn't produced anything near the same volume of runs on tour in England so far. Having warmed up for the series with a double-century for India A against England Lions in Beckenham, Nair has so far produced scores of 0, 20, 31, 26, 40 and 14 in the three Tests; his four most recent knocks coming at No. 3.

Nair returns to a Karnataka set-up teeming with talented batters. R Smaran, KL Shrijith and KV Aneesh all had breakout seasons in 2024-25. Smaran topped the runs tally for Karnataka, hitting 516 runs in ten innings during the Ranji season, while Shrijith hit a century on first-class debut. With Mayank Agarwal likely to continue as captain and Devdutt Padikkal a definite starter, there could be a healthy selection dilemma for the team management. There might also a slight deviation from the Karnataka State Cricket Association's stance of looking to the future, something the departure of senior players K Gowtham and Manish Pandey were examples of.

Meanwhile, seamer V Koushik has obtained an NOC from Karnataka to shift to Goa for the upcoming season. A late bloomer who gave up a corporate job to make his Ranji debut in 2019-20 at 27, Koushik emerged as one of the key members of Karnataka's pace attack following the retirements of R Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun and S Aravind. Koushik was Karnataka's leading wicket-taker in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy; his 23 wickets across seven matches came at 18.73. This included two five-wicket hauls.