Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], August 15 (ANI): Indian batter Karun Nair hailed head coach Gautam Gambhir for giving the team a 'lot of encouragement and support' during the England tour of five Tests, which marked a moment of transition for India, led by a young Shubman Gill, with stalwarts like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin having hung up their whites.

After a whitewash against New Zealand at home by 3-0 which ended India's 12 year unbeaten home run and a horrid tour to Australia where India surrendered the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by 1-3 after a decade, Gambhir, Team India and fans finally caught a break collectively as Team India secured a very-hard-fought 2-2 draw against England in their own territory, with the quality of cricket played by India garnering plenty of acclaim.

Speaking to Boria Majumdar on RevSportz, Karun said the right from the start, the message was about putting the team first and beating England in their own territory.

'The whole goal of the series was to do something special as a team. It was really inspiring to see this message coming from him from day one, and everyone really bought into it, which you must have noticed as the series progressed. Gauti bhai was someone who gave us a lot of encouragement and support. I can talk for myself that he really gave me the confidence to go out there and give it my best. So, the whole focus was to go out there and play the way I know, to play for the team in any situation that I was in,' he added.

Nair ended his comeback series with 205 runs in eight matches at an average of 25.62, with just one fifty. His comeback to international cricket after eight years was underwhelming after a monster domestic cricket season, as he could not convert his solid 30s and 40s into something of substance. (ANI)