'Dear cricket, give me one more chance,' said one of India's only two Test triple centurions, Karun Nair after being axed by his domestic side Karnataka for the 2022-23 season.
Now, back in the grind after a gap of one season for Vidarbha, an emotional Nair admitted during the Ranji Trophy final against Mumbai on Wednesday that it was tough to 'sit at home and watch others play'.
Nair, who joined Vidarbha ahead of the 2023-24 season, has enjoyed success in all formats for his new team and will also end the Ranji Trophy season, which culminates on Thursday, as the leading run-scorer for the two-time winners with 690 runs in 10 matches with two centuries and three fifties.
"I think I have batted pretty well. I have got runs in all formats. I could have gone better in all formats but having said that, at least this season I have got quite a few runs starting from playing a few games in the County Championship," Nair said after churning out a defiant 220-ball 74 on Day 4 of the Ranji Trophy final against Mumbai.
"I started getting runs there and that gave me a lot of confidence. If I could score runs at The Oval, score a 150 when the conditions are much tougher to play, that gave me a lot of confidence to start the season before I came over here," he said referring to his county stint with Northamptonshire last season when he scored 249 runs in three innings at an average of 83.
"I didn't play for a year so that was quite hard. I don't know what to say but it was obviously hard to sit at home and watch others play."
Nair is only the second Indian to score a triple hundred in Test cricket when he stroked 303 not out in the fifth and final Test against England at Chennai in December 2016.
However, he didn't get many chances after that landmark triple century and ended up playing just three Tests after that -- three Tests against Australia in 2017. In all Test history, only one player has played fewer Tests than Nair after scoring a triple ton.
Andy Sandham, the first man to score a triple hundred in Test cricket -- 325 against the West Indies at Kingston in the 1929-1930 series. Sandham, who played 14 Tests for England between 1921 and 1930, never played Test cricket again after his historic feat.
The 32-year-old, who has played six Tests for India, said he has not given up the hopes of a comeback.
"100 percent I think I can come back. Otherwise, I wouldn't be giving my all to play domestic cricket. 100 percent I feel I can play for India again. It's just about putting up the performances and keeping the consistency," he said.
The right-handed batter said it would be unrealistic to hope anything special from Vidarbha on the final day, with the visitors needing another 290 runs to win with five wickets in hand.
"We need to be realistic -- it's a tough task. But if I can say something about this team, it's that they never give up and they show character at each time that they are put down," he said.
"But it's cricket, you never know what can happen. I would have loved to have been batting overnight and then could have given you a better answer if I was batting," said Nair, who was dismissed late in the day.
Nair said batting for long was the only option Vidarbha were left with after Mumbai set an improbable 538-run target.
"It was a wicket where I could have taken many chances but it was like you know, at the cost of what? That was the thought process," he said.
"The thought process was just bat and not give them any chances. Keep batting and score the runs that they give you rather than trying to convert things. Bat as long as you can. You never know," he said.
Meanwhile, Mumbai pacer Tushar Deshpande said it was not frustrating for his side which had to toil for breakthroughs on a pitch that remained conducive for batting.
"No, we weren't frustrated at all. We just wanted our bowlers to bowl in good areas because the wicket offered a lot (of) turn and bounce, so they were putting their best foot forward and patience was the key because they played really well and played all good cricketing shots," Deshpande said.
"They didn't play any bad shots in the whole day's play. It was just a matter of time. The wicket has turned out very good to bat (on). It was turning a bit, but slow turn," he added.
Deshpande said Mumbai bowlers had to "earn" their wickets on the fourth day which turned out to be a tough grind for the team closing in on their 42nd win in the Ranji Trophy.
"The spinners did a good job, but saying that the wicket had some true bounce for pace bowlers also, we bowled in tandem, but we earned all the wickets which we got today," he said.
Deshpande also praised Vidarbha batters for putting up a resilient batting display.
"They showed really solid resilience. Chasing such a big score, normally teams falter, but they showed very good resilience and they batted really well," he said.
