Nagpur, Feb 26, 2025, IANS

Nagpur, Feb 26 (IANS) India and Vidarbha batter Karun Nair has reached a massive milestone of scoring 8,000 runs in First-Class cricket. He achieved the landmark during the Ranji Trophy final against Kerala at the VCA Stadium in Jamtha on Wednesday. In his 114th First-Class match, Nair walked in at number five in the 13th over after Kerala reduced the hosts to 24 for three after opting to bowl first and crossed the feat when he reached 10 runs. The top-order batter smashed a hundred in Vidarbha’s last league game against Hyderabad and followed it up with his 22nd First Class century in the quarterfinal victory over Tamil Nadu. He is third among Vidarbha’s top run-getters, having scored 673* runs, including three tons and a half-century. The ongoing Ranji final is the fourth of Nair’s career, following two with Karnataka from 2013-15 and one with Vidarbha last year, where they finished as runners-up to Mumbai. While writing this report, Nair is batting at 35 off 76 along with Danish Malewar (66 off 118) as Vidharbha are 120/3. In his debut First-Class season (2013-14), Nair played in the final as Karnataka triumphed over Maharashtra to clinch the title. The next year, Nair starred with a colossal 328 in the final against Tamil Nadu, earning Player of the Match as Karnataka successfully defended their crown. In January this year, the 33-year-old batter set a world record for the most consecutive runs scored in List A cricket without dismissal, amassing over 500 runs before finally losing his wicket in the match against Uttar Pradesh during the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. He shattered the previous world record of 527 consecutive runs in List A cricket without dismissal, set by New Zealand’s James Franklin in 2010. By the end of his innings, he had notched up 542 runs, becoming the first Indian batter to achieve this feat. Last year, he was only the second India batter to have scored a triple hundred after former opener Virender Sehwag. He became the quickest batter to score a maiden triple century in Test cricket’s history. Nair was picked up by the Delhi Capitals for Rs 50 lakh in the IPL 2025 mega auction.