Do you think that one year can be a long time? Well, ask Karun Nair. About 12 months ago, the 26-year-old Karnataka batsman became the second Indian batsman after Virender Sehwag to score a triple hundred in Test cricket. His knock on December 19, 2017 against a lifeless England side was full of gorgeous strokes, determination and temperament. On Wednesday, when the Indian cricket team led by Virat Kohli will board the plane to South Africa to face its biggest challenge in the last couple of years, Karun Nair would be sitting at home, probably waiting for the IPL auction to be sold at a decent price.

The middle-order batsman has gone off-radar faster than most of the other players of his generation. The series against England was followed by the home series against Australia where Nair registered scores of 26, 0, 23 & 5 in the four innings played over three Test matches. That, was it! He hasn’t been picked in the Indian team since then as the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara continued to dismantle the opponents, guiding India to one victory after other.

Nair had an average year in domestic cricket where he scored two centuries and one fifty for Karnataka in 7 first-class games this year. The youngster who smashed 153 runs in his last Ranji Trophy knock of the season would have hoped for a place at least in the 17-member squad, if not in the playing XI.

But, Rohit Sharma’s red-hot form across all formats against Sri Lanka and selector’s choice to opt for an extra wicketkeeper-batsman in Parthiv Patel didn’t help Nair’s case. The Bengaluru boy, who has led Delhi Daredevils in a few games in the IPL, in a recent interview said that it took him a couple of days to get over the fact that he wasn’t selected for South Africa tour. But, the youngster is waiting for another opportunity and is certain that he’ll do better this time than before.

The practice of dropping a player despite him scoring big isn’t something new in cricket. One of the greatest English batsmen of all time, Geoffrey Boycott was dropped after he made an unbeaten double century against India, in Headingley, in 1967. Boycott was dropped for his slow batting as he took 555 deliveries to score 246 even though England had won the game.

Another legend of the game Aravinda de Silva was not dropped, but ‘rested’ after scoring 206 against lowly Bangladesh, in 2002. That turned out to be his last Test.

Something similar happened with Jason Gillespie who scored a double ton against Bangladesh in 2006, after walking in to bat as a night watchman. The bowler, however, was dropped from the Australia squad as he continued to battle with his bowling form.

Given that Nair is just 26-year-old and has a long career ahead, he should certainly represent India again. But, the Karnataka batsman needs to make sure that this time he doesn’t let that opportunity slip away.