India, April 14 -- The year was 2017, and the month was March. Eight years ago, Karun Nair played his last for India. The same year, Nair scored one fifty in the Indian Premier League, until last night in Delhi, when the veteran India batter smashed his first IPL half-century after over 2500 days. Away from the limelight, Nair continued to do his thing. Score runs. Plenty of them. Having left Karnataka and found a new home in Vidarbha, Nair was unstoppable during the last domestic season for India, emerging as the highest run-scorer in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and pummelling 863 runs from nine matches.

Nair has done everything possible to win his place back in the Indian team. The same team for which he scored a Test triple-century, the o...