Like most cricketers, Parthiv Patel, too, wanted to retire from the playing field but circumstances overtook him as he bid farewell to the game on December 9. Patel has also been fighting an emotional battle. Ajaybhai, who is his son’s biggest inspiration and strength, has been confined to bed for a year.
Speaking to this writer a few days ago, Patel said he could no longer delay the decision. He wants to start a new inning—as a mentor or coach for an IPL team and also explore broadcast opportunities. The fact that he spent the recently concluded Indian Premier League warming the bench without getting a single game could have brought home the fact that he was done with cricket as a player.
In his international career, he made 25 Test, 38 ODI and 2 T20 appearances, more than any youngster could have dreamt of while playing in the Dhoni era. It wasn’t easy for a teenager to be world-class in the early 2000 but it was even tougher not to give up for 15 years while competing for a place in a team with one of the all-time greats. A team can only have one wicket-keeper.
Giving up would have been an easy option but Patel dug in, made comebacks whenever there was a hint of opportunity at the international level. He must have retired a content and satisfied cricketer.
From being called up for the Gujarat Under-16 team to representing six different franchises over 13 IPL seasons, Patel should have no regrets. Add 194 first-class games, a Ranji Trophy win for his home state of Gujarat and the 36-year-old will also be known beyond his India duties.
Before Dhoni burst onto the scene, Patel had been part of some of the best Indian cricket teams, especially the one that toured England in 2002, played the 2003 World Cup in South Africa—he didn’t get a single game as Rahul Dravid was make-shift wicketkeeper to strengthen the batting—and the ones that visited Australia and Pakistan in 2004.
Yet, Test cricket's youngest wicketkeeper will always be remembered for the unbeaten 19 runs he scored on his debut in 2002 at Trent Bridge in the second innings of the second Test to earn a tough but crucial draw. Displaying an incredible temperament, the 17-year-old Patel defied logic as he blocked out 60 balls. If India managed to halt the losing streak on English soil for the fourth consecutive time in 2002, Patel had a part to play.
In an informal chat over the phone earlier this week, Patel shared what Sachin Tendulkar had told him during the 2002 Nottingham Test. Tendulkar told him that he was impressed by his temperament. Patel got emotional as he recalled the incident and said he would always cherish the compliment, for he believes that more than skill or ability, it’s the temperament that defines a player.
As an international cricketer, Patel’s stats as a wicketkeeper or batsman aren’t staggering but he was more than the sum of his parts for Indian cricket and the goodwill he accumulated is cricket’s priceless gift to him.
(Vimal Kumar has covered multiple cricket world cups and Rio Olympics in the last two decades. The author of Sachin: Cricketer Of The Century and The Cricket Fanatic’s Essential Guide can be reached @Vimalwa on Twitter)
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