India have invested in Karun Nair and Sai Sudharsan after the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Nair has been given three games to prove himself in the five-match series against England. On the other hand, Sudharsan was dropped after the opening Test in Leeds. Karun Nair hasn’t been able to justify his selection so far, with not even one fifty coming from his bat. The right-handed batter has been playing and missing a lot, and this is what happened in the first innings of the third Test at Lord’s.

He played good strokes but never looked settled. The Karnataka-based batter was dismissed after scoring 40 runs, with Joe Root taking a one-handed stunner in the slip cordon. Nair, who had four boundaries, added 61 runs for the second wicket with KL Rahul.

Cheteshwar Pujara, who was expecting the struggling batter to be among the runs in England, is disappointed with his performance. He feels that Sai Sudharsan should replace Karun if he doesn’t get runs in the second innings.

“It was a good ball, but not an unplayable delivery. Karun Nair got stuck in the crease. He will have to find a way to cross the 50-run mark to feel confident and relaxed. I am not saying that he should be scoring a hundred, as fifty would do a world of good for him,” Cheteshwar Pujara said.

“If he doesn’t score runs in the second innings, Sai Sudharsan should take his place. You don’t get too many chances in the Indian team, and he will have to understand this. He is a quality batter and there is no doubt about it but he needs runs to keep his place,” he added.