Jeetan Patel confirms international retirement after Luke Ronchi

Following the steps of Wellington team-mate Luke Ronchi, New Zealand bowler Jeetan Patel announced his international retirement. Confirming the speculations about his retirement, Patel said that he played his last international match at an inspiring age of 37.

He was in Chelmsford from where gave the confirmation. He also had a match to remember at the place as he took 4 wickets for 138 runs and scored 71 runs against Essex as a Warwickshire player.

Both these players are set to be excluded from the New Zealand Cricket which is scheduled to be released on Friday. The list is expected to have three changes where Jeet Raval, Neil Broom and Colin de Grandhomme will replace Ronchi, Doug Bracewell and Mark Craig.

On his international career:

Jeetan Patel’s career in the black colours of New Zealand seemed to be over in 2014 when he rejected a national call to feature against the West Indies because of his commitments to Warwickshire. But in an amazing turnaround of events, he again got a chance to don the national colours last year in October for the tour against India. By the end of the season, Patel emerged as the ace bowler for the Kiwis.

However, his last ODI ended on a disappointing note when New Zealand suffered a loss to Bangladesh in Dublin in may. It marked the end of his international career which features 24 Tests and 43 ODI matches.

Jeetan Patel seemed not too concerned about the retirement and expressed is happiness to have made a comeback into the international scene. Having said that, the 37-year-old also said that its now time for him and New Zealand Cricket to part ways.

Patel’s absence will be a matter of concern for the Kiwis as they will have to dig out quality replacements. It is a golden opportunity for Ish Sodhi to prove his mettle at the national level while the board still backs Mitchell Santner as the leading spinner.