Lot was expected for a young Parthiv Patel who was drafted into the team after injury to Ajay Ratra to be the second keeper in the team after Rahul Dravid. Patel was also included in India’s 2003 world cup squad that lost in the finals but failed to get a game in the tournament.
He was only included in the team when Rahul Dravid was injured or rested and his case got worst with the emergence of MS Dhoni in the national team. Dhoni was a destructive wicket keeper batsman and soon become the first choice keeper batsman and Dravid started playing as a specialist batsman. Patel got minimal chances in the national squad and only got a chance to ply his trade in 2010. With Dhoni rested for 2011 West Indies tour, Patel made his way back into the team and was sidelined after Dhoni was called back for the future series.
Is Parthiv Patel unlucky ?
Wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel does not consider himself unlucky to be playing in the same period of veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He believes that the former captain took better advantage of his opportunities and went onto achieve so many things for Indian cricket. Despite being a non regular member of the Indian team, Patel has been a run scoring machine in the domestic cricket and led Gujarat to Ranji title in 2016. He played the last Test for India in 2018, while the last time he played in ODI format was in 2012.
“I don’t see myself as unlucky to be playing in the Dhoni era. I started my career before him, and I had the opportunity to perform before him,” he was quoted as saying in Hindustan Times.
“Dhoni came in to the team because I did not have a couple of good series and I was dropped. I know people can say it just to gain sympathies that I was born in the wrong era. But I don’t believe that,” he added.
