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Indian batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has finally opened up on the India No.3 batter Karun Nair’s exclusion from the playing XI for the ongoing Manchester Test, which didn’t go down well with a lot of people in the cricketing fraternity.
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Nair’s replacement at No.3, Sai Sudharsan, had a decent time in the first innings, scoring an excellent half-century. However, he couldn’t replicate the same in the second innings as he bagged a golden duck off Chris Woakes.
However, Kotak stated that the decision to exclude Nair from the XI was taken by the head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill. Notably, Nair could score only 131 runs at an average of 21.83 in six innings in the ongoing England Test series.
"I don't think it has been a problem, to be very honest. Yes, after Karun also got a few starts and got out. And then Sai also in the first game scored 30 in the second inning and got out. But I don't think it is an area of concern, to be very honest. And the way Sai batted in the first inning was very good,” Kotak said in the post-day press conference.
Moreover, he added that Karun Nair will have the backing from the Indian team management, stating that he got the starts, but couldn’t convert them into bigger scores. He further asserted that the Indian think tank team thought of Nair building a lot of pressure ahead of the penultimate Test and thought of replacing him with Sudharsan instead.
"Coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill can talk about that. When Gill said we'll back Karun, he would have meant as a batter. He didn't do badly. He got starts," he added.
"The way he has batted, he has not played badly. He has got a good start every time. Sometimes, if the team management feels that at this stage, maybe in the 4th Test match, there can be pressure built on him. So if we can change it, we can do it. It does not mean that the team management is not backing him," he noted.
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