After seven years without playing for the Indian national team, Karun Nair is not looking too far into the future and wants to revive his stagnating career step by step.

The 32-year-old batsman has scored runs regularly for Vidarbha in the Indian circuit and for Northamptonshire in English county cricket.

Nair wants to continue the good work and take advantage of every opportunity that comes his way.

You have to be prepared to work hard. It’s all about the next game. And I don’t look too far ahead because sometimes you can get stuck thinking about what’s going to happen,” Karun told PTI.

“I scored a lot of runs last year in all formats. I just tried to continue what I did last year at every opportunity… looking at every opportunity as a new day,” he added.

Nair has been a fantastic addition to Northamptonshire, joining them in 2023 and scoring 249 runs in three matches at an average of 83.

In 2024, Nair has amassed 487 runs at an average of 49 in seven matches and has made a solid impression.

“You play with a different ball there – literally. Everyone knows it’s difficult for Indian batsmen to score runs in England… playing the moving ball. So I’ve learnt a lot more about myself as a batsman and finding ways to score runs and believing in myself.

“There are so many things I learned in England, you know, maybe I already had them inside me, but I wasn’t aware of it all the time,” he mentioned.

The move to Vidarbha has done wonders for Nair as he did not get enough opportunities in his home state of Karnataka.

“First of all, it is an opportunity to play Ranji Trophy cricket, which I missed for a year for reasons unknown to me. So I am really thankful to Vidarbha for giving me the opportunity to play first-class cricket.

“So the goal is to improve on last year and go one step further. And hopefully we can win some trophies,” he said.

Nair has not given up on his dream of playing Test cricket for India again and believes he is “good enough” to do so.

“Yes, of course. Everyone plays this game to go out and represent their country and that’s my only goal now – to play Test cricket again and I’m very confident I can do that. I know I’m good enough,” he said.