【Zoe Voss Archives】

They say the darkest hour is Zoe Voss Archivesthe nearest dawn. And Indian cricketer Karun Nair must know a thing or two about it.

The 25-year-old, playing only in his third test match, slammed an unbeaten triple hundred against the visiting England side on Monday in Chennai. But few know that only months ago he cheated death.

In July, Nair narrowly escaped death after his boat capsized in Thampa River in the southern Indian state of Kerala, his native place.

He didn’t know how to swim and had to be rescued by onlookers, PTIreported. “I was lucky to live again,” Nair said as he recalled the incident after end of day’s play.

As Nair went from strength to strength on Day 4 of the match, on-air commentators couldn’t stop gushing about his calm, dignified celebrations in the middle.

As records tumbled one after the other, an Indian TV presenter tweeted in admiration.

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The who’s who of the cricketing world, including former batsman Virender Sehwag who had been the sole Indian member in the illustrious 300-club until then, hailed Nair’s splendid knock that put his team in an unbeatable position.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as President Pranab Mukherjee congratulated the young man for his feat.

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And the International Cricket Council, the game’s governing body, reckoned it was among the best test knocks of the year.

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Nair’s long innings, which spanned over five sessions in the game, won him rich applause from his fellow teammates as well as the opposition.

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But his knock was no surprise to followers of India’s domestic cricket.

Nair, who represents the state of Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy (the Indian equivalent of English county cricket), is known to be a long-innings player.

It is also said that he has been “groomed” by legendary Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid at the U-19 and India A levels. And Nair’s Monday innings made him the first Indian and only the third in the history of the game, to turn his maiden Test century into a triple.