The Story
Parthiv Patel’s cricketing career, despite starting early, has been a true example of a grind at the international level. 15 years ago, he made his Test debut as a teenager promising to be a successful wicket keeping star. However, things never went in his favour on a long term basis and he was left to struggle.
“At a young age, you usually don’t worry about anything. Same was the case when I was 17. It was just a dream come true for me (to represent India). I never sat and thought how big an opportunity was that. It was just a good time for me. The time of my life,” said Parthiv in a conversation with HT.
Still focussed on doing better
So far, Patel has played just 23 Tests and 38 ODIs after first appearing in 2002versus England in Nottingham. Opportunities were never abundant for him after failing to cement his place in the side due to inconsistency. His failure to quick gain huge strides cost him very badly. The emergence MS Dhoni was the final setback to his dream of having a lengthy career.
“The main goal (now) is to improve my game, where I can get better, where I can help my team win tournaments. I want to be a better player every day.”
With the likes of Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha and Dinesh Karthik performing exceptionally well in the domestic circuit, Parthiv Patel is unperturbed with the competition he faces.
“When you are playing in a big country like India where 27-28 teams participate (in the domestic circuit), competition will always be there. You always have to be on your toes when want to play for your country. It doesn’t come that easy. Competition gets the best out of all of us. Everyone knows whoever gets picked is good enough to play.
The resurgence to the top level
His career received an unexpected boost last year when he was recalled to the Test side after Wriddhiman Saha suffered a thigh strain during the Test series against England. It was result of constant attempt to raise quality of his game. In the [past few years, Patel has appeared as a highly effective combination of a complete batsman and an high quality wicket keeper at the domestic level and the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“As a cricketer you have a few dreams. One of them is to play Test cricket. The other one to play Ranji Trophy. And now the IPL — a tournament you want to be a part of and that too of a winning team. To get such a reward within a year’s time is very satisfying,” he expressed.
“I haven’t changed much in wicket-keeping as far as technique is concerned. The only thing that I have done is realistic practices — in terms of taking catches, effecting stumpings. In terms of wicket-keeping on a rough surface, I have changed my practice routine in a way that I don’t do both skills at a time, in one session. There is equal importance giving to both batting and wicket-keeping.
The reason nnehind his resurgence has surely been his new approach to batting. He was always known as a pocket-dynamite but lately, he has estblihed himself as a solid top order batsman who also possess the ability to bat lower in the order as per the team requirement.
“As far as batting is concerned, I’ve made a few changes — especially in terms of initial movements. And there is always a conscious effort of scoring hundreds. I’ve always maintained the mentality that whenever I’m in the middle as a wicket-keeper, I’m a specialist wicket-keeper. Whenever I’m in the middle as a batsman, I’m a specialist batsman,” he said.
“I’m ready for any role the team management wants me to do. Whether it is opening, batting in the middle-order, playing as keeper-batsman, keeper-opener, I’ve enough experience to adjust to the conditions. On top of that, my belief has helped me stay afloat,” said Parthiv.
Competition has been always tough for Patel. The likes of Dinesh Kartik and Wriddhiman Saha have always been in contention with him. Nowadays, new names like Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan have come up who have been performing exceptionally well in the domestic circuit.
Talking about the competition, Parthiv Patel said he was untroubled about the role competition plays in his career.
“When you are playing in a big country like India where 27-28 teams participate (in the domestic circuit), competition will always be there. You always have to be on your toes when want to play for your country. It doesn’t come that easy. Competition gets the best out of all of us. Everyone knows whoever gets picked is good enough to play.
He also seems optimistic about the chances of him playing in the 2019 World Cup in England
“As I said, whichever opportunity I get, I’ll be ready for it. My career has gone up and down but I haven’t set any boundaries for myself. There is no reason why I can’t get into any form of the game. So why not. Would love to be a part of the World Cup team,” he concluded.