Is Karun Nair's Test Career Over? Know About His Latest Replacement

The Indian Cricket Team announced a 15-member squad for the 2-Test match series versus West Indies on 25th September 2025. Led by the Chairman of Selectors, Ajit Agarkar, the Indian team announced a solid team that clearly has a blend of experience and youth.

One of the biggest talking points in the squad is the omission of Karun Nair. The veteran cricketer was dropped from the squad after an underwhelming performance in England. In-form batter Devdutt Padikkal has been picked as Karun Nair replacement in the middle order.

Karun Nair had a string of poor performances in the 5-Test match series versus England, and apart from a solitary half-century, Nair failed to impress the selectors. Karun could muster only 205 runs in 4 Tests and 8 innings, and hence, he was dropped from the squad. Despite getting a second chance, he was unable to make full use of it.

Is Karun Nair Career Over?

After the 33-year-old batter failed to hog the limelight in the first 3 Tests, he was dropped for the 4th Test match. However, one of the best batsmen in the world, Shubman Gill, decided to give him another opportunity in the 5th Test match at The Oval, where he scored 57 runs in 109 balls in the 1st innings.

He failed to replicate that good performance in the 2nd innings and was dismissed by Gus Atkinson for a paltry knock of 17 runs. A lot of cricket pundits had guessed his omission, and the Indian Cricket Team decided to drop him from the 2-Test Match series versus the West Indies.

Karun Nair has played 10 Tests in his career and has amassed 579 runs. He has an average of 41.4 in Tests, and apart from that 300-run knock, which he had scored against England in 2016, Nair has failed to impress people and selectors.

Earlier, a tweet had gone viral in which he had asked for a second life after being dropped from the Indian Test team during the initial phase of his career. He finally made it to the team after a dream domestic season for Vidarbha, where he amassed runs across all formats. However, the lack of runs in England has worked against him.

Ravindra Jadeja Appointed Vice-Captain

As Rishabh Pant was ruled out of the Test series following a toe fracture, which he had sustained in the 4th Test match, Ravindra Jadeja has been named as the deputy of Shubman Gill in this series. Jadeja’s wealth of experience will help the Indian Cricket Team against the West Indies, and Shubman Gill can get a lot of insights from him.

The squad also features Dhruv Jurel, one of the best wicket-keepers in India, and Narayan Jagadeesan as the wicket-keepers. Notably, N Jagadeesan was called up as the backup keeper when Pant was injured during the England Test series. However, it was Dhruv Jurel who was slotted in the playing XI ahead of the Tamil Nadu-based wicket-keeper.

Team India Squad for West Indies Test 2025

Shubman Gill (c), Ravindra Jadeja (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, N Jagadeesan (wk), Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav.