It will be wrong if 'MS Dhoni's era' is blamed for my short India career: Parthiv Patel

Parthiv Patel was just 17 years old when he made his international debut in 2002 against England in Nottingham. Not long ago, he was the captain of India U19 team in the World Cup and suddenly he was playing alongside the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and others. He impressed many during the initial matches of his career before the performances dipped.

More than his low scores with the bat, Parthiv’s poor wicketkeeping seemed to be the main reason for him to be dropped. Around 14 months after he was axed, MS Dhoni made his debut and the rest is history. He secured his place in the side with some blistering knocks and his wicketkeeping skills and a great career unfolded over the next decade and a half.

But during this period, Dinesh Karthik and especially Parthiv Patel, both were not to be seen anywhere. Many reckon that their careers were cut short due to MS Dhoni playing exceptionally and later becoming India skipper. However, Parthiv doesn’t like seekin sympathies by blaming the ‘Dhoni era’ for his short India career.

While speaking to Aakash Chopra on his Youtube channel, the 35-year-old reminded that he made his debut even before MS Dhoni and if he had performed to the expectations, he would’ve never lost his place in the team.

I don’t seek such sympathies, says Parthiv Patel

“Many people said me that I was born in a wrong era and that it was Dhoni’s era but I have told it before also that I made my India debut before MS Dhoni. It will be wrong if I seek sympathy by saying that my career was shortened because of MS Dhoni’s presence. I think my performance was not up to the mark and that is why others got chance.

“Dinesh Karthik got it first and then MS Dhoni. If I was doing well then nobody could have replaced me. I will never seek that sympathy of not playing for long because I was born in Dhoni’s era,” he said. Parthiv Patel worked hard after being dropped in 2004 and did really well in the first-class cricket.

He made several comebacks to the team and the first of it came in 2008 after which he was picked in 2016 and then 2018 for South Africa where he played a Test too.