Karun Nair forced his way back into Team India on the back of his dream run in domestic cricket. The right-handed batsman piled up heaps of runs for Vidarbha in domestic cricket. While he missed out on making his ODI comeback for the 2025 Champions Trophy, Karun made it to the 18-member squad for the Test series against England. He has played all three Tests in the series so far but has struggled with the bat. Karun has just managed to score 131 runs across six innings in 3 matches.

Karun's struggles with the bat could see him getting dropped from the final XI for the fourth Test. He might also struggle to keep his place in the Test team going ahead.

Former India selector, Devang Gandhi, dissected the reason behind Karun's struggles and explained what he needs to do. "Now, you can handle a Woakes at his pace but Archer, Carse or even Stokes who can slip in a heavy delivery here and there can be difficult to handle," Devang told PTI.

"He needs to have an early trigger. That is doable or else, he has to have different triggers for bowlers with different pace. Now the second solution is a difficult one and it would need time and high end skills to have that adaptability."

Karun kicked off the England tour with a double-century against England Lions. He struggled in the series opener and managed scores of 0 and 20. Karun scored 21 and 26 in the second Test.

Karun looked set to play a big knock in the first innings of the Lord's Test but departed for 40. Much was expected from him in the chase of 193 but he got trapped in front of the stumps by Brydon Carse for 14. He could get replaced by Sai Sudharsan for the fourth Test, to be played in Manchester from July 23 to 27.