Karun Nair : New cricket hero of India is born
Riding on Karun Nair’s unbeaten 303 and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja’s seven for 48, a ruthless India on December 20 defeated England by an innings and 75 runs in the fifth cricket Test and clinched the five-match rubber 4-0.
India’s new cricketing hero is born. It is Karun Nair. He made 303 not out in the fourth and penultimate day (December 20, 2016) of the fifth and final Test between India and England in Chennai. He did it when he was just three matches into his Test career. An unknown on the international prior to this, he is now not just a centurion but a triple centurion. He paced his innings perfectly to remain unbeaten on 303 alongside Ravindra Jadeja. He later said he was nervous during his first hundred and in a perfect case of “gloves were off”, his second hundred came in 121 balls and the last in a mere 75 balls. Helped by his remarkable innings, India also brought up their highest ever Test score to declare for 759/7 and take a 282 run lead. By close of play, England had reduced that to 270 runs with the opening duo unscathed.
India won 5 –match test series with England 4-0. With this, the Virat Kohli-led side have now extended their unbeaten streak to 18 Tests – the longest in the history of Indian cricket – bettering India”s earlier record of 17 Tests without a defeat between September 1985 and March 1987. The 4-0 victory is also India’s highest against the English side since the 3-0 win in the 1992-93 series.