There were multiple times where I thought, 'why am I still doing this?': Parthiv Patel

Parthiv Patel is an example in Indian cricket on how you have to make the best use of the first opportunity you get. In a country where millions are in line for each spot in the team, there are several players who can be termed unlucky in terms of the chances they got to play at the highest level. Patel made his Test debut in 2002 as a 17-year-old but at 33, he has only played 25 Tests.

He was flown with the team for the England tour and played the Trent Bridge game as his first; with that, he had also registered himself as the youngest wicketkeeper to feature in a Test match as he was 17 years and 153 days old on August 8, the start of the game. His ODI career has had a similar fate, he earned his maiden cap in January 2003 but to date has only played 38 matches.

After Patel, there was Dinesh Karthik who was given a few chances in 2004 but come 2005 and the team found MS Dhoni. Ever since the former Indian keeper wore the wicket-keeping gloves the team has only opted for someone else when he’s either been rested or wasn’t fit.

Fell in the negative zone at times

Patel was also with the team on the tour of South Africa earlier this year but hasn’t quite managed to become the first choice even in the absence of Wriddhiman Saha. He recently appeared on Gaurav Kapoor’s chat show ‘Breakfast with Champions’ and talked about his career among other things.

He admitted that there was a phase where he got all negative but it was his desire to do well and the self-belief that bailed him out. “I would be lying if I said that I did not have negative vibes in my career. There were multiple times where I thought, “Why am I still doing this?” But I had a strong desire and self-belief that I wanted to play for India again. That was what keep spurring me on,” the 33-year-old said.

The occasions when he did well in the Ranji Trophy and other players with much lesser runs were picked ahead of him, that hurt him a lot.

“But there were obviously phases where I questioned myself. There were times when I had scored 700-800 runs in the Ranji Trophy but someone who had scored 200-300 runs was picked ahead of me,” Patel said.

For all the latest cricket news and other updates follow CricTracker.