Most first-class appearances by Indians before national call-up

#2 Saba Karim - 116 matches

An eye injury ended Saba Karim's playing career, who played 34 ODIs and a single Test for India

Saba Karim was a veteran in first-class cricket, but again, like numerous other talented names, had multiple competitors in the national side who blocked his entry, which, in Karim's case were MSK Prasad and Sameer Dighe. Though Karim had slowly become a regular in India's ODI side, it took him 116 first-class games before finally making his international debut in the longest format. That was in the year 2000 and the match was Bangladesh's first in the format. Karim made 15 in the only innings he batted and took a solitary catch in the match.

Never to have played Tests again, Karim then suffered an accidental eye injury while keeping to Anil Kumble in an Asia Cup match earlier in the year, a hit which would require surgery and eventually end his playing career soon though his Test debut came after the incident. In first-class matches, though, Karim averaged a splendid 56 with the bat in 120 matches, having grabbed 298 dismissals with the gloves.