Dinesh Karthik’s comeback to Indian cricket has seen many phases, but his return to Test cricket in 2018—after nearly eight years—didn’t turn out to be a memorable one. The former Indian wicketkeeper-batter, who retired last year, recently shared details about his final days in Test cricket during a podcast for Sky Sports featuring Ravi Shastri, Nasser Hussain, and Michael Atherton.
After listening to Hussain’s retirement story from 2004, Karthik shared his own, recalling how then-head coach Ravi Shastri effectively ended his Test career.
“There’s not much in common between me and Nass and I’d like to keep it that way. He finished at Lord’s. I finished at Lord’s. The only difference was that he went and knocked on the coach’s doors, saying I think I’m done. In my case, the coach came in and said, ‘Don’t bother coming in the next Test, you are done’,” Karthik said.
Karthik made his late Test comeback in 2018, replacing an injured Wriddhiman Saha. He played three matches that year—one against Afghanistan and two in England. However, he struggled to find form, scoring just 25 runs across five innings.
It was during the second Test of the 2018 England tour at Lord’s that Karthik played his final red-ball match for India. His Test career ended after a disappointing run at Edgbaston and Lord’s, paving the way for a young Rishabh Pant to make his debut in the third Test.
Karthik ended his Test career with 1,025 runs, including a single century, which he scored in 2007 against Bangladesh in Mirpur. Despite the end of his red-ball journey, Karthik made two successful returns to India’s white-ball setup in the years that followed.
Hussain’s 2004 Test Farewell
Nasser Hussain also recounted his final Test match—played at Lord’s against New Zealand in 2004—where he signed off in style with a century. The match also marked the debut of future England great Andrew Strauss.
“I knew I was gone. Strauss came in for that game, and Michael Vaughan was injured. I went to my old coach, Duncan Fletcher, I worked with him for four years. I knocked on his door and said, Dunc tomorrow’s gonna be my last day. In the hope that Duncan would say, ‘Nass, you’re playing pretty well’ but he went, ‘No, tomorrow is going to be your last day.’ I said, ‘Thanks, coach’.”
“Strauss was getting loads of runs; he was looking like he would get a hundred in both innings. I got him run out. I got one of my best mates at the other end. I hit it through the covers, got a hundred. We beat New Zealand. That’s a decent way to go out. Vaughan came back in. Strauss, we knew, was a superb Test cricketer,” Hussain said.
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