All I can do is keep scoring runs: Karun Nair

Within four days of becoming the second Indian ever to score a Test triple ton – 303* in Chennai last month – Karun Nair could not even aggregate nine per cent of that mammoth score in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal for Karnataka against Tamil Nadu.

On what was unworthy of a Ranji quarterfinal pitch as the scheduled five-day match ended in just two days at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam, Nair scored 12 and 14 as Karnataka, that also included KL Rahul, were defeated.

From a career high one day to a low in four days, Nair is only richer with experience. The emotions are still the same – emotionless. Be it scoring his first Test century – or a maiden Test double century or triple as that innings progressed on a hot afternoon in Chennai – he is just focussed on the job at hand and rarely gives vent to his emotions.

Nothing much has changed for Nair from then till now. Not will things change much henceforth. Except being recognised on the streets a little more than before.

"It is just the way I am. I don't want to change. I don't want to be someone that I am not. Whatever happens on the field is just how I am always," Nair said here on the eve of the Irani Cup match.

There will be a weight of expectations the next time he takes guard in a Test match against Bangladesh in Hyderabad early next month. But the 25-year-old right-hander is not worried about what others want from him.

"That (expectation) is going to be there. I have my own expectations and like to stick with them and not worry about what others expect of me. That way, I don't really think about the outside part," Nair said.

Nair will look to score runs in the Irani Cup against Ranji Trophy champions Gujarat at the Brabourne Stadium, where last year against Mumbai, he notched up 94 and 92 in a winning cause for Rest of India.

"I have been working hard. It is all about getting the opportunity, using it to the maximum and doing well for the country and helping the team win."

There is so much that scoring a triple ton can do. It adds to the confidence and also a sense of belonging in the team.

Before making his Test debut, Nair was part of the Indian Test squad largely as a replacement, filling in for a Test here and there as a standby. He was there to soak in the atmosphere when the mace to symbolise No. 1 rank was given after the Indore Test. Nair had then said that "the team would cherish it more because it has been working really hard to get there and I was there for just one Test match".

Now, Nair, having been part of the full series playing in three of them, Nair said he belonged to that dressing room. "I have played a whole series and I feel that I am in the team on my own. It is just the beginning and I am looking forward to the future,' he said.

"The confidence increases when you score runs at the international level. You have more belief that you can do more at that level."

One may have expected Nair to be considered for the ODIs, especially after his T20 form for Delhi Daredevils in IPL and also after his triple century at a strike rate of nearly 80. But the man himself was not expecting anything.

"It is the selectors' call. All I can do is to keep scoring runs. It is up to them to pick me or not. I am really not thinking of those things. I don't have expectations. This is the beginning of my career and I am working hard and waiting for the opportunities."