On Thursday, Indian wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik was recalled to the Indian setup after a gap of 3 years. The 31-year-old was picked as a replacement for Manish Pandey on the back of some fine performances.
We look at the things that have changed since he last played for India:
1.MS Dhoni retires from Test cricket and resigns from limited-overs captaincy
When Karthik last played for India in 2014, MS Dhoni was still running the show in all three formats of the game for India. However, since then the tide has shifted and how. Dhoni has retired from Test cricket and earlier this year resigned from the limited-overs captaincy as well, handing the reigns in all formats to Virat Kohli.
2.Kagiso Rabada- upcoming quick then, now one of the best seamers
At the outset of 2014, Kagiso Rabada was an unknown commodity. However, the Under-19 World Cup held that year in the UAE gave the world the first glimpse of the next star. Rabada finished as the second highest wicket-taker with 14 scalps to his name.
Later that year, the speedster made his T20 debut for South Africa and in 2015, debuted in both ODIs and T20Is and since then has become one of the best young bowlers in world cricket.
3.England- Struggling in ODIs then, Contenders for CT now
In 2014, England played the type of limited-overs cricket, considered to be very unfashionable and even outdated, to an extent. They faced the brunt of playing in this manner at the 2015 World Cup when they were knocked out in the Group Stages.
However, post that debacle, the side under Eoin Morgan have made a remarkable turnaround as a new side, picked specifically for the demands of limited-overs cricket have made them a unit to reckon with and who would start the Champions Trophy as one of the favourites.
4.Retirements of great cricketers
In this period of three years, several established names announced their retirement from the game. The likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Mitchell Johnson, Michael Clarke and several other great players called it quits from the game and are now foraying into different fields.
5.Rise of Afghanistan cricket
It was the Asia Cup of 2014 that the world got to see the first big stride taken by Afghanistan cricket. they defeated Bangladesh in the competition and also gave quite a scare to Pakistan.
Since then, the team have been on an upward curve, putting in impressive performances in the 2015 World Cup, then defeating the West Indies in the 2016 World T20 a year later. Their exploits for their country has also seen two of their players also feature in the IPL this yea.
6.Misbah-Ul-Haq- captain of Pakistan then, retired now
Ever since Misbah-Ul-Haq took over as Pakistan captain in 2010, the team saw steady improvements as far as their game was concerned. However, everyone has to move on at some point and after the 2015 World Cup, the 43-year-old called it quits from ODI cricket and two years later, announced his retirement from Test cricket to bring to an end his international career.
7.Brendon McCullum inspires New Zealand to 2015 World Cup Final. retires next year
New Zealand came into the 2015 World Cup as one of the contenders for the competition. But no one perhaps expected them to play as well as they did and reach the final. That happened mainly because of the inspiring leadership of Brendon McCullum, who led from the front, even though in the final, the side, faltered to Australia.
A year later, McCullum announced his retirement from international cricket with a record-breaking hundred against Australia at home.
8.Growth of Bangladesh cricket
Bangladesh for the longest time seemed like the side, who would never show their real potential. However, just as everyone were coming to their conclusion over their chances of making it big, they began to flourish.
A quarterfinal finish at the 2015 World Cup followed by victories at home against India, Pakistan and South Africa meant that the Tigers had finally arrived on the scene and were ready to take on the big guns.
9.Rohit Sharma breaks Virender Sehwag’s record
Around 3 years after Virender Sehwag set Indore alight with his batting exploits, Rohit Sharma decided to go one better at the Eden Gardens against Sri Lanka when he smashed 264 runs on his own to go well past Sehwag and put his name in the history books.
10.India get new coach and a chinaman
When Karthik last played for India, Duncan Fletcher was part of the Indian coaching setup along with Trevor Penney and Joe Dawes. 3 years later, when he enters the dressing room, he will have Anil Kumble, Sanjay Bangar and R Sridhar as the support staff for the Indian team.
Also, India’s first ever chinaman-Kuldeep Yadav- made his Test debut earlier this year against Australia in Dharamshala.
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