What has changed since Tim Paine played his last Test in 2010?

The Australian selectors took an interesting decision to recall the Tasmanian wicketkeeper Tim Paine for the first two Ashes Tests. Their decision didn’t go well as the pundits’ questioned the credibility of the 32-year-old, who is expected to open the innings and take the gloves in the prestigious Ashes series. In his 91-match first-class career, Paine has managed to score only one hundred, that too way back in 2006.

Paine will be making a comeback in Test cricket after 7 long years as his last of the four Test matches was played in October 2010. If the wicketkeeper plays in the Brisbane Test match, he will be equaling the Australian record of missing 78 consecutive Tests held by Brad Hogg. In these seven years, the sport has witnessed a lot of changes and a few who were rookies then are regarded as greats.

Here are the things that changed since Tim Paine’s last Test in October 2010 against India in Bangalore:

No signs of the fabulous four of modern cricket:

Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Steven Smith and Kane Williamson – are the Test captains of their respective countries and are considered the best batsmen at the moment. However, Kohli, Root and Williamson didn’t make their Test debut when Tim Paine last played a Test. Smith made his Test debut along with Paine earlier in the same year.

But the Australian was still a specialist leg-spinner for his side only to be recognized as one of the best batsmen of his team 4-5 years later. Root didn’t even make his International debut when Paine made his last Test appearance while Williamson was only a two-month-old in ODI cricket. Kohli was establishing his career in the ODI format at that time and has ever since caught up with a record achieving consistency.

Sachin Tendulkar was the only ODI double centurion:

In February 2010, Sachin Tendulkar became the first player to score a double century in ODI cricket. However, since October 2010, four other cricketers scored ODI double tons. Rohit Sharma alone hit two ODI double centuries including the world record 264. (Sachin was 1st ODI double centurion in Men’s cricket. In 1997, Belinda Clarke scored 229* in Women’s cricket)

End of India’s fantastic four:

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman. The names that carried the responsibility of the Indian batting line-up for over a decade in the 21st century and took India to the top spot in the ICC Test rankings for the first time in 2009. However, after Paine featured in his last Test in 2010, all the four players hit lows in their career which resulted in their retirements. India suffered a 4-0 whitewash in England and Australia leading to the exit of Dravid and Laxman.

Tendulkar achieved his dream of winning the World Cup and completed 100 International centuries before retiring in front of his home crowd in 2013. Sehwag, whose form dropped considerably after 2011 CWC, was ousted from the team in 2013. However, after making many unsuccessful attempts for a comeback, the Delhi player finally announced his retirement in 2015.

The Mis-You era:

At the time when Paine played his last Test, Misbah-ul-Haq was just announced as the Test captain of Pakistan team and Younis Khan was a banned cricketer by their board on disciplinary grounds. But one could not have imagined how grandly they would conclude their careers seven years later after making a huge impact in Pakistan’s record books. With 26 Test victories, Misbah ended up as the most successful Pakistan Test skipper while Younis Khan, with 10099 runs, retired as the highest run-getter for his country.

Sizzling Sanga:

The time when Paine was playing Test cricket, Kumar Sangakkara was among the best cricketers from Sri Lanka but ended his career in 2015 as one of the all-time greats of the sport. The classy left-hander struck 30 centuries across formats from October 2010 after scoring 33 hundreds across ten years before that. He scored 10757 International runs in 199 matches in this span at an astonishing average of 53.25 to finish with 28016 runs, the 2nd highest after Sachin Tendulkar.