Kohli, Ashwin yet to make debut, this is how the Indian side looked when Karthik played his last Test

India were playing under the captaincy of Virender Sehwag as regular captain MS Dhoni had been rested.

Five legends of Indian cricket – Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan – who have taken retirement from all forms of cricket, featured in Karthik’s last Test for India.

Yuvraj Singh was still trying to cement his spot in the Test side. Now, he has very little chance of even making it to the limited overs sides.

Ishant Sharma is the only cricketer who has survived the battle of time. Ishant in all probability will be the only cricketer apart from Karthik, who played in that 2010 Test match in Chittagong and also the Afghanistan Test match in 2018.

The Indian captain Virat Kohli and India’s highest wicket-taker in the current squad, Ravichandran Ashwin were yet to make their Test debuts when Karthik played his last Test match. Both Kohli and Ashiwn made their Test debuts a year later in 2011.

Dinesh Karthik is a classic example of better late than never. The stumper, who turned 33 on Friday has earned a Test call-up and in all probability will take the gloves in whites after a gap of eight years.

Sachin Tendulkar was still playing all forms of cricket in full force. In fact, he was the player of the match for his stunning century (105) in the first innings that helped India win that Test match by 113 runs.

While Karthik did make a Test comeback earlier this year in South Africa, he had to warm the benches as Parthiv took the gloves in the last two Test matches in Centurion and Wanderers. He has again been drafted in as a replacement but this time around, he is almost certain to make it to the playing XI in place of Wriddhiman Saha, who was ruled out from the historic Afghanistan Test match with a thumb injury.

When Karthik dons the gloves on June 14 against Afghanistan it will be nothing short of a spectacle as he will be the most experienced cricketer of the squad (in terms of Test debut). The Tamil Nadu cricketer, who last played a Test match in 2010, made his debut way back in 2004.

So how did the Indian Test side look when Karthik last turned up for India in red ball cricket at Chittagong in Bangladesh?