Cricinfo - Players and Officials

Full name Parthiv Ajay Patel
Born March 9, 1985, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Current age 23 years 181 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

683

29.69

1527

44.72

ODIs

132

14.66

226

58.40

First-class

132

4188

179

36.73

223

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

Sri Lanka v India at Colombo (PSS), Aug 8-11, 2008 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

India A v Australia A at Bangalore, Sep 3-5, 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. Parthivl'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. Parthiv'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 Parthiv opened up with a fourth century on the trot.

In 2008, his efforts were rewarded with a call-up to the squad for the Test-series in Sri Lanka.

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 (August 7, 2008)

Aug 14, 2008

Robin Singh issues instructions as Parthiv Patel looks on © Cricinfo Ltd

Aug 11, 2008

Michael Vandort is cleaned up by Harbhajan Singh © AFP

Aug 11, 2008

Mahela Jayawardene, Parthiv Patel exchange words © AFP

View the full list of 119 related images