CHENNAI: Over the past two seasons, one of the talking points of the Karnataka team has been the form of Karun Nair. The 30-year-old’s last century in the competition before Thursday came against Saurashtra in the semifinals in December 2017. On a warm day at the Chemplast cricket ground here, Karun announced his return to form with an unbeaten 267-ball 152 (21x4; 1x6) to pull Karnataka out of the rut.
Karun, fondly called ‘kulla’ (the short one), stood tall among the ruins, as Karnataka, who opted to bat first against Jammu and Kashmir on a flat track and lightning outfield, made a hash of the opportunity to finish the first day on 268/8. The other batsman to redeem himself was R Samarth (45).
