10 Facts about Parthiv Patel: The baby-faced Indian cricketer

Parthiv Patel can be termed as an unfortunate cricketer who missed out capitalizing the early opportunities which came his way. He was rated as a decent batsman. The baby-faced Patel is a gutsy batsman who batted sturdily against the likes of Shoaib Akhtar and Brett Lee without breaking apart. However, it was his glove work that was under constant scrutiny and became the reason for his fall. He got lost in the competition and the emergence of MS Dhoni completely threw him out of contention for a spot in the Indian team in any format. However, he kept growing as a cricketer and has been the chief contributor for Gujarat and in the IPL.

1. Born on:

Parthiv Ajay Patel was born on March 9, 1985 in the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

2. Mistaken for a team mascot:

Parthiv Patel once was mistaken as team mascot when he led his side onto the stage during the Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century Awards in London in July 2002.

3. Young wicket-keeper in Test history:

Parthiv Patel became Test cricket’s youngest wicketkeeper – at 17 years, 153 days – when called up to replace the injured Ajay Ratra for the second Test at Trent Bridge despite still not having played in any domestic first-class matches.

4. Five tons in a row:

He is the only Indian to score five centuries in five consecutive innings in first-class cricket history. He achieved this in 2007 between July and October. He scored 126, 124, 164, 110, 179 in consecutive innings.

5. The IPL journeyman:

He is the only Indian player to have represented 6 teams in the Indian Premier League – CSK, Kochi Tuskers, Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad, RCB, and now Mumbai Indians.

6. MTV Bakra:

Parthiv Patel was once trolled in the famous MYV show ‘Bakra’ hosted by famous VJ Cyrus Brocha. He is requested to drive his car after his driver fakes chest pain. As Parthiv takes to the driver seat, traffic policemen stop me and fine him for being under age. Parthiv falls into the trap and pleads with the traffic policemen not to take him to the police station. The policemen then make Parthiv ask sorry and sign pages of autographs. The prank is finally busted and he gets into the car, yelling at the driver for lying.

7. Dropped:

After being around for three years in the international circuit, Parthiv went out of favour and was dropped from the team for sloppy glove work, losing his place to other emerging wicket keeper Dinesh Kartik.

8. Comeback:

Parthiv returned to the Indian team in 2010 in the 4th and 5th ODI vs New Zealand. He celebrated this moment by hitting two back to back half centuries.

9. Back in contention:

The retirement of MS Dhoni from Tests opened the door for him. He is seen as one of the top contenders for the place of wicket-keeper batsman once again. With Saha’s injury, Parthiv Patel is all set to make his comeback in Tests after 8 years. We can witness the gloveman back in the Indian side at Mohali against England.

10. Personal Life: 

Parthiv is married to Avni Zaveri who is an interior designer based in Ahmedabad. Avni and Parthiv were childhood friends and got married on March 9, 2008. Together they have a daughter Venika.