life has changed in a matter of few hours for Karun Nair, India's second triple centurion in Tests and the Bangalore boy admits that it will take some time to sink in.
"Everyone is being very nice to me. They have congratulated me. I think it will take a couple of days for myself to sink in. The dressing room atmosphere has always been really good and they have always backed me in whatever I have done," Karun said at the day end press conference.
Asked as to when he thought about getting to a triple century, Karun said it was only after he reached 280 that his partner Ravindra Jadeja started egging him on to reach the milestone.
"I think it never took place in my mind. Once after I crossed 250, the team management had certain plans of going after the bowling and declaring. So I think within the space of five overs, I got to 280-285, that is when I started thinking and Jaddu kept egging me on to not throw it away and get to 300 easily."
The 25-year-old said that there were nerves during each of the milestones on 99, 199 and 299.
"Obviously, there are some nerves. You can't be thinking negative at that point”.
“You just have to watch the ball and just get over that moment. You just have to feel that moment, being there."
'Escaped death'
The pressure of approaching a triple hundred pales when one has survived a near death experience, said a calm and composed Karun Nair after becoming only the second Indian batsman to score a triple hundred in Test cricket on Monday.
Karun's unbeaten 303 against England in the ongoing fifth and final cricket Test put him in the same bracket as Garry Sobers and Bob Simpson on account of converting a debut century into a triple ton.
Reflecting on the knock, which has given India a chance to push for victory, Karun put things in perspective by recalling a boat accident in Kerala, which he survived earlier this year despite not knowing how to swim.
"I didn't know how to swim. People there rescued me and I was lucky to live again (about the boat accident in his home in Kerala)," Karun told official broadcasters.
Karun, who is originally from Kerala, was taking part in a temple festival when the boat he was on capsized in river Pampa in Kerala.
"This is the best knock I've played in my life. There were many situations in the middle when I had to play differently, with (Kl) Rahul, (Ravichandran) Ashwin and (Ravindra Jadeja) Jaddu. I have to thank them for supporting me, egging me on," Karun said at the end of the fourth day's play.