Karun Nair's case is a peculiar one in Indian cricket.

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Having become only the second batsman after Virender Sehwag to score a triple hundred – 303 in Chennai against England in November 2016 – for India in Test cricket, the 26-year-old has since been confined majorly to the sidelines by the Indian team management.

For all those who like to throw statistics to showcase the fact that he has scored only 71 runs in the remaining three Tests that he got to play, would do well to know that judging a triple centurion on the basis of mere four innings – 26, 0, 23, 5 against Australia in 2017 – can be a hard pill to swallow for anybody.

Such has been the sorry tale of the Karnataka batsman that even a rookie like Hanuma Vihari, who was flown in by the selectors for the last two Tests against England, was preferred over him in the playing XI for the last Test.And to make matters worse now, the wise men of the Indian cricket stamped the choice of the team management by preferring Vihari over Nair for the upcoming two-Test home series against West Indies.

Lack Of Opportunities

Nair seemes to have little clue about what he should do to impress captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri.

When the same question was posed by this newspaper to several sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as well as the team management, the general response was – "ask Virat".

"I took time to understand the feat (triple hundred) I had achieved," an emotional Nair said after being dropped from the Test team altogether.

"It wasn't that it put me under pressure or anything, the only thing that bottled up for me was not getting picked after that. I haven't got the kind of opportunities I should have got after that. That's the only thing that's bottled up," he added.

Nair is considered to be one of the fittest players in the Indian team along with skipper Kohli, and thus, being forced to warm the benches constantly during the away tours to South Africa and England was hard to fathom.Nair may well go to Ajinkya Rahane for some counselling, who can cite his own struggles of the 2011-12 tour of Australia.

Soon after the retirements of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, Rahane was ignored to give Yuvraj Singh a chance, almost out of nowhere. Even when Yuvraj was dropped, Ravindra Jadeja was picked ahead of Rahane. The Mumbai batsman neither was given a chance in the Test team, nor did he get a shot at making his way back through first-class cricket.

Here, Nair is a bit lucky in the sense that the chairman of selection committee, MSK Prasad, has at least reached out to him to explain the reasons for keeping him in the cold.

"I personally spoke to Karun soon after the selection of the Test team against the West Indies and also told the ways to make a comeback. The selection committee is very, very clear with regard to the communication process," Prasad has been quoted as saying on Monday.

In Prasad's own words, Nair was clearly intimated as to why the decision was taken, adding that the only way to make a comeback was by piling up runs at the domestic level.

"He will have to keep on piling runs in Ranji Trophy and whatever India A series is there. Karun is very much in the scheme of things for Test cricket. Right now, we have advised him to focus on performing in domestic and India A matches," Prasad said.

Vihari vs Nair

However, Prasad's clarification cuts little ice. According to team sources, it was Vihari's batting style and attitude that impressed Kohli the most during the net sessions in England, thereby giving him a spot over Nair almost immediately after being flown in.

"Vihari impressed his skipper by his batting approach and that translated into his inclusion in the Test XI ahead of Karun," an insider said.

Asked if there were any other issues like behaviour that kept Nair on the sidelines, the source rubbished it.

"Karun has been one of the best behaved player in the team and any such rumours are baseless, if any. He certainly deserved more chances after his triple century but why did that not happen is something only the team management can explain," the source said.

Prasad vs Nair

Karun Nair, in a recent interview, said that neither the team management nor the selectors communicated with him the reasons for not picking him in the playing XI. However, chief selector MSK Prasad said on Monday that his colleague, Devang Gandhi, had spoken to the batsman in England when he was not being picked in the playing XI. “We are very clear and candid in our communication process . My colleague Devang Gandhi spoke to Karun Nair at length in England to keep him motivated and wait for his opportunities,” Prasad said on Monday.