Former Indian wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Wednesday as the 35-year-old took to Twitter to convey the news.
— parthiv patel (@parthiv9) December 9, 2020
The Ahmedabad-based cricketer had broken into the Indian team at just 17 during India’s tour of England in 2002, thus becoming the youngest wicketkeeper in Tests. Though Patel lost his place in the national team in a year with the emergence of Dinesh Karthik and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the southpaw kept coming back to end up earning 25 Test caps to his name.
While Parthiv Patel’s international career wasn’t really bountiful as he played only 38 ODIs and two T20Is for India, apart from the Test matches, he was a stalwart in the domestic circuit. He boasts of over 11,000 runs in 194 first-class games with 27 centuries and 67 half-centuries to his name and he also led Gujarat to their first-ever Ranji Trophy title in the 2016-17 season.
Patel’s match-winning maiden List A century against Delhi in the 2015 Vijay Hazare Trophy final and his 143-run knock against a tough Mumbai side in the Ranji Trophy final – while leading Gujarat on both occasions – are fondly remembered.
Parthiv Patel was a regular in the Indian T20 League as well, where he won three titles with Chennai (2010) and Mumbai (2015 and 2017). Amongst his best seasons would the 2017 one with Mumbai, where the southpaw’s tally of 395 runs at a strike rate of 134.81 was Mumbai’s highest.
Parthiv Patel was part of the Bangalore team in the recently concluded Indian T20 League edition but the promotion of Devdutt Padikkal saw his chances drying up.
Feature Image courtesy: AFP / Gianluigi Guercia
