India batter Karun Nair has joined Northamptonshire for the remaining three County Championship fixtures, the club announced on Friday.
Nair, 31, will feature for Northamptonshire replacing Sam Whiteman, who has returned to Australia.
Prior to Nair, India opener Prithvi Shaw had signed up with the club for the One-day Cup and had hogged limelight for smashing a record-breaking 244 off just 153 balls against Somerset before his stint was cut short due to a knee injury.
Nair has reportedly landed in Englnd and will now join the squad before the upcoming County Championship fixture against Warwickshire, slated to begin on Sunday.
“I’m really looking forward to joining Northamptonshire and getting to play in the County Championship. 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,” said Nair in a statement issued by the club.
Notably, Nair debuted for India in 2016 against England in Mohali and became only the second Indian after Virender Sehwag to slam a triple century after he slammed an unbeaten 303 in the last game of the Test series in Chennai.
Nair meanwhile, was also a member of India’s 2017 Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad and featured in his last Test match against Australia in Dharamsala in March, amassing 374 runs from six Tests.
Commenting on Nair, Northamptonshire head Coach John Sadler said he was delighted to sign a player of his 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. 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 said.
Recently, Nair had announced to leave Karnataka and play for Vidarbha in the upcoming domestic cricket season 2023-24.
“Hopefully, I can make an impact on 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,” he concluded.