Karun Nair laughs at the prophecy of a casual quip from a podcast he was a part of in September 2024. Robin Uthappa, his former Karnataka team-mate, had asked what more Nair needed to do to get noticed.
At the time, Nair had just returned from summer in England with Northamptonshire, scoring 487 runs in 11 innings, including a best of 202 not out. It hurt him that he wasn't considered for BCCI's season-opening Duleep Trophy.
"Funnily enough I said I think I need to score a hundred in every single innings to kind of get noticed," Nair laughs during a chat with ESPNcricinfo from Vadodara. He remembers that light-hearted quip as he sits on top of the run-scoring charts in the ongoing 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Nair has stacked up scores of 122*, 112, 111, 163*, 44* and 112* in his last six innings. Prior to being dismissed for 112 against Uttar Pradesh, Nair had set a new List A record of scoring 542 runs without being dismissed, going past former New Zealand allrounder James Franklin. This glorious run has helped Vidarbha make the semi-finals, with Nair playing a key role as batter and captain.
"I think I may have manifested something like this unknowingly in that chat with Robbie, and that's coming into fruition," Nair laughs. "At the time [of recording the podcast], I was hurting a bit. After scoring runs in England and scoring nearly 700 runs [690 at the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy] to take Vidarbha into the finals, I did feel I could've got a look-in for the Duleep Trophy.
"Initially, right through the first half of the Ranji season I kept thinking about missed opportunities when I couldn't convert a few of my starts. But coming into the Vijay Hazare Trophy, I had completely forgotten about it, but I've just kept playing and have kept getting hundreds."
Nair's fall after being India's second triple-centurion in Test cricket was quite steep. He not just slipped out of national contention but also fell out of favour with the selectors from his own state, Karnataka. After more than a year of not having a team, his comeback began at the DY Patil tournament in early 2023.
A chat with former India pacer Abey Kuruvilla during the tournament helped him find a new team in Vidarbha. It helped that Nair had a rapport with Kuruvilla, who was India Under-19 selector when he was coming through the ranks.
Nair joined Vidarbha ahead of the 2023-24 following a season in the minor counties for Burbage & ER Cricket Club in East Wiltshire, for whom he made two hundreds and a half-century in eight innings. It was a step down, but Nair simply wanted any game time he could.
As he reflects on his runs and form he describes as "surreal and humbling", Nair remembers the struggles of those dark days and the time when he yearned to simply get bat on ball after sitting at home for nearly seven months not knowing where his next opportunity would come from.
"I think, quite honestly, it's even amazing to myself also to look at the results that are coming about currently," he says. "But I would say the only thing I'm focused on is cherishing each moment and being present in that particular game. I'm not thinking about the past or the future; I'm thinking about only that game and playing as though that is the most important innings of my career.
"I don't think in these six matches, it's ever come across to my mind that I have so many runs so I can play however the way I want. Yes, obviously, I would be lying if I say I haven't thought about the dark days, but I've managed to control those thoughts and kind of rein myself in and say the team needs something else for me and I need to stay there till the end and make sure that I cross the line.
"As soon as there's a stage where I know I'm confident that we are through, then that's when I play a little more freely and attacking. So really, I would say it's the process that I followed this year and the last probably is 12-16 months where I've been very thoughtful in each and every game that I've played. I've made sure that it is the most important moment in my career and made sure that I've taken that to every single innings that I've played."
Along the way, Nair has also found a new IPL home at the Delhi Capitals, a team he once captained all too briefly, after having gone unsold at the previous auction. The tough times, Nair says, is over. He likens it to seeing light at the end of a dark tunnel.
Inevitably, runs and records of this magnitude have brought with it plenty of attention. With India due to tour England later in the summer, Nair's experience of two county seasons at Northants and runs at the Ranji Trophy could potentially keep him in the conversations.
Nair chuckles at the prospects of a possible comeback, nearly seven years after he was left out following spending the entire summer in England being in the reserves.
"I'm quite relaxed actually," he says. "I wouldn't be lying if I forgot about everything. But I don't know, the way I feel about my game, in the mind, the way I go about things - it's just different. I just feel different every single day I wake up.
"I'm only trying to shift my focus on winning games for my team and performing along the way. Basically, I'm only thinking about that at the moment, which is kind of the right thing to do. Quite honestly, I don't know how close I am [to being in contention for the national. team]. Like I said, again, I just want to take it one game at one time. But yeah, I don't know."
What Nair does know is he's rediscovered his penchant to score big, and score hundreds - "the only currency in cricket I heard growing up." Now to try and top it off with a trophy winning season for Vidarbha.