I just keep telling myself that I deserve more than a series: Karun Nair

It's been a topsy-turvy few months for Karun Nair. On the tour of England, he made a fairytale return to the Indian Test team after nearly eight years out, barging the doors open with solid numbers across formats in domestic cricket. However, in a series dominated by bat, the 33-year-old didn't have the best of returns despite getting off to good starts in at least three of the four Tests he featured.

Nair was left out for the fourth Test in Manchester but returned to the XI at the Oval, where he top scored for India with a 57 in the first innings on a tricky pitch. He finished the drawn series with a tally of 205 runs at an average of 25.62 and that solitary half-century. When India returned to the format earlier this month, at home against West Indies, Nair found himself out of the squad with chief selector Ajit Agarkar remarking that more was expected of the senior player in England.

The selectors instead decided to pose their faith on the younger Sai Sudharsan, despite the left-hander's own modest returns in England (140 runs from 3 Tests at 23.33). Curiously, Nair wasn't even included in the India 'A' team that played Australia 'A', for the Irani Cup as part of the Rest of India side or for the forthcoming 'A' series against South Africa, despite his volume of his domestic runs in the last season.

While admitting to disappointment over his treatment, Nair has continued in his run-making ways. After marking his return to Karnataka with a 73 in the first match of the Ranji Trophy season, he followed it up with an unbeaten 174 in the ongoing clash against Goa, rescuing his side from a precarious 65 for 4.

"It's quite disappointing [being dropped], but I know that I deserve to be there after the last two years [in domestic cricket]," Nair told reporters in Shivamogga on the sidelines of the Goa game. "People might have their opinions, but personally, my opinion is that I deserve a lot better."

Nair didn't delve into the details of communication from the team management, but he revealed he was determined to keep fighting: "Few individuals in the team have had good conversations with me about how they feel and that's about it.

"All I can do is keep scoring runs, that's my job. There's nothing much for me to say. I just keep telling myself that I deserve more than a series. That's all I can tell myself, and not let that go into my head. All I want to do is to play for the country. That's the only target. If you're not able to do that, the next thing would be to try and win games for the side I'm playing for," he said.