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Parthiv Patel - The Little Hearts
(Profile of Parthiv Patel)
- B.V.Swagath
Ever since, the Selectors for
some strange reasons decided to shut the door for the best wicket keeper
in the country - Nayan Mongia , the WICKET KEEPER berth was an open for
all . From then it looked like a game of Musical Chairs which saw the
KEEPER slot go from the likes of Sameer Dighe to M.S.K.Prasad to Vijay
Dahiya to Deep Dasgupta to Ajay Ratra and now it seems like a chubby
young kid has made this slot his own for years to come . Yes, that
little chubby fellow is none other than Parthiv Ajay Patel .
It was June 2002 and India were touring England after 6 long years. They
had to play as many as 6 first class games and 4 test matches. The
selectors learning from the mistake they had made in 1996 where they had
only one specialist keeper - Nayan Mongia , opted for two specialists in
Ajay Ratra and Parthiv Patel. If somebody's misfortune is somebody's
gain, then yes it became a reality in the case of little Parthiv.
Parthiv Patel was infact picked in the team as an understudy to Ratra
and also to give some cover to Ajay Ratra in the county games. A finger
injury to Ajay Ratra kept him on the sidelines for the 2nd Test at Trent
Bridge and that gave Parthiv Patel an early break in Test Match cricket.
It was indeed an early break as Parthiv hasn't played a single first
class match in India. With that a new record in Test Match History was
established as Parthiv Patel became the youngest wicket keeper ever at
the age of 17 years and 153 days to don the gloves.
Parthiv had to sit in the dressing room on Day1 of his first test with
India ending the day's play at 210/4 on a rain shortened day. His first
appearance in a test match actually came on the 2nd Day of this match
with the fall of the 6th Indian wicket that of Ajit Agarkar's and the
score at 285/6. The English fast bowlers were getting ready to get the
throat of the young debutant with intimidating rib snorters. Soon the
young man came to know how cruel Test Match Cricket can be after facing
10 balls as he succumbed to an awkward rising delivery from the giant
Steve Harmison. Parthiv Patel walked back to the pavilion in complete
disbelief and was still in search of his first run in Test Match
Cricket. India were all out for 357 and finally it was time for Parthiv
Patel to don the gloves. His keeping skills were being watched by
millions of cricket fans, but young Patel wasn't overawed by that
occasion and quietly did his job behind the stumps. Patel had to wait
for a gruelling 57 overs behind the stumps for his 1st victim in Tests
until Nasser Hussain sweeping at Harbhajan, presented the wicket keeper
with his first Test scalp as the ball ballooned up off his glove. Patel
followed that with a neat catch down the legside off Agarkar's delivery
to end Micheal Vaughan's brilliant knock of 197. England made 617 and
Parthiv in his very first Test match had to stay down for as many as 145
overs !!! India had to save this match and it was a gutsy young man in
Parthiv Patel who was withering the storm with an unbeaten 19 which
lasted over an hour and 20 minutes . Since then Parthiv has never looked
back and has made this Wicket Keeper's berth his own atleast in Test
Matches.
His first break in One Dayers came during the forgetful tour of New
Zealand in January 2003. Parthiv Patel was a part of the World Cup Squad
but could never get a game. The biggest tribute he got was when Dravid
said that he had learnt a lot about keeping from the little man. Parthiv
got to play one dayers only when the team management decided to give
Dravid a break from the relentless job of batting and wicket keeping .
However in tests, he has been a regular since the 2nd Test at Trent
Bridge in 2002 and has played some gutsy knocks including a dashing 62
he made against the likes of Lee and Gillespie at Sydney.
However, question marks still loom on his ability to sustain the
intensity that is required at the highest level of the game. Is Parthiv
Patel ready to play International Cricket? Every game that he played
recently has had a miss-stumping or a dropped catch or a simple let off
for byes. All these mistakes have cost India a few matches and can we
continue to afford such lapses in the future? Isn't it better off to
have this talented youngster mature as a wicket keeper at the domestic
level for a couple of years rather than have him in the big league so
early. So many of these questions are left unanswered. May be Ganguly
and the team management have a better idea than us. Inspite of all
these, Parthiv Patel is definitely going to be an exciting prospect in
World Cricket as time passes by.
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