Karun Nair replaces Australia star at Northamptonshire for remainder of County Championship 2023

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Indian batsman Karun Nair has joined Northamptonshire for their remaining three matches of the County Championship 2023. Nair, Only the second Indian batter to score a triple hundred in Test cricket, recently left Karnataka to play for Vidarbha in the Indian domestic circuit.

Karun Nair will replace Sam Whiteman who has returned to Australia. Whiteman played a total of 11 matches and scored 719 runs at an average of 37.84. He scored two hundreds and three fifties and is currently the leading run-scorer for Northamptonshire in the season. The Indian batting star will feel the pressure of replacing the side's top batter.

“I’m really looking forward to joining Northamptonshire and getting to play in the County Championship.” Nair said.

“You hear a lot about county cricket and I know Prithvi [Shaw] really enjoyed his time with the team so it’s exciting to have the opportunity to be involved too.”

"Nair has compiled just shy of 6,000 runs across 85 appearances in first-class cricket with an average of 48.94 and 15 centuries. He received a call up to the Indian test side in 2016 and turned his maiden international century into an unbeaten triple against England in Chennai," a statement from Northamptonshire said.

“Hopefully I can make an impact for the team while I’m there, that’s the main thing for me. It’s about doing as much as I can to help the team get some wins in these last three games.”

Head Coach John Sadler was delighted to sign a player of Nair’s calibre.

“It’s great that we’ve been able to secure Karun to come over for the remainder of the season, he’s really keen to get going.” Sadler said.

“He’s a high class batter who’s scored something like 11,000 runs in his career and his first class numbers are particularly special.”

"He brings buckets of experience too which is so valuable to have around the dressing room, I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do for us in these three games," he added.

The right-hander has landed in the UK and will link up with the squad ahead of Northamptonshire's upcoming fixture against Warwickshire starting on Sunday.