Cricinfo - Players and Officials

Full name Parthiv Ajay Patel
Born March 9, 1985, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Current age 23 years 138 days
Major teams India, Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat, India Green, Rajasthan Cricket Association President's XI
Batting style Left-hand bat
Fielding position Wicketkeeper

Batting and fielding averages

Mat

Inns

Runs

Ave

100

Tests

669

31.85

1483

45.11

ODIs

132

14.66

226

58.40

First-class

129

4161

179

37.48

220

List A

1665

26.42

2113

78.79

Twenty20

461

24.26

415

111.08

Bowling averages

Mat

Inns

Balls

Runs

Wkts

BBI

BBM

Ave

Econ

Tests

ODIs

First-class

3.00

List A

Twenty20

Career statistics

Test debut

England v India at Nottingham, Aug 8-12, 2002 scorecard

Last Test

India v Australia at Nagpur, Oct 26-29, 2004 scorecard

Test statistics

ODI debut

New Zealand v India at Queenstown, Jan 4, 2003 scorecard

Last ODI

Sri Lanka v India at Colombo (RPS), Jul 27, 2004 scorecard

ODI statistics

First-class debut

2001/02

Last First-class

North Zone v West Zone at Mumbai, Feb 19-22, 2008 scorecard

List A debut

2001/02

Last List A

South Zone v West Zone at Bangalore, Mar 26, 2008 scorecard

Twenty20 debut

Chilaw Marians Cricket Club v PCA Masters XI at Leicester, Sep 15, 2005 scorecard

Last Twenty20

Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals at Mumbai, Jun 1, 2008 scorecard

Small even for his tender age, when Parthiv Patel led his side onto the stage during the Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century Awards in London in July 2002, some people assumed he was the team mascot. But within a month he had instead become 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. And he didn't do too badly either, scoring a gutsy, unbeaten 19 which helped stave off an Indian defeat. Patel's glovework has varied from the competent to the shoddy - he was splendid in the home series against West Indies in 2002-03, but then struggled to inspire confidence thereafter, especially when standing up to the spinners. His ability with the bat ensured that he got an extended run - he scored an aggressive 62 at Sydney in 2003-04, and then faced up to Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami with plenty of poise, scoring 69 as an opener. However, those batting performances weren't enough to gloss over increasingly sloppy work behind the stumps, and the selectors' patience finally ran out after the third Test of the home series against Australia, when he was replaced by Dinesh Karthik. Patel's form took a turn for the better in 2007, on a twin tour of Zimbabwe and Harare for India A, where he hit three hundreds and a half-century. In the first match of a series against South Africa A at home Patel opened up with a fourth century on the trot. Adam Gilchrist is Patel's role model: if he can bounce back and achieve even half the success Gilchrist has as a wicketkeeper-batsman, Indian cricket will be well served.
S Rajesh (September 2007)

Jul 21, 2008

Sachin Tendulkar and Parthiv Patel walk in for practice © AFP

Feb 20, 2008

Rajat Bhatia drives, Parthiv Patel tries to follow © Cricinfo Ltd

Jan 5, 2008

Harshad Rawle defends the ball as Parthiv Patel looks on © Vipin Pawar/DNA

View the full list of 106 related images