Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble were great leaders: Parthiv Patel
Former India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, who announced his retirement from all forms of the game on Tuesday, has hailed Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble as two of the greatest captains that he played under.
Patel feels that he thrived under Ganguly's captaincy and he was lucky enough to make his international debut when the former Indian skipper was at the helm.
Patel also felt that both Ganguly and Kumble contributed to making him the person he is.
The 35-year-old stated that Ganguly had excellent man-management skills and produced many match-winners for the Men in Blue like Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, etc. Patel also got nostalgic when he recalled some of India's famous wins that he was a part of on foreign soil.
India were 1-0 down in the three-match Test series going into the third Test against England at Headingley in 2002. But they completely dominated the hosts and handed them an innings defeat to level the series. Patel was also a part of the Indian team that made history in Australia by beating them at Adelaide during the 2003-04 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The Men in Blue had managed to retain the trophy by drawing the series 1-1.
Patel believes that his 69 runs off 141 balls while opening the batting against Pakistan in the third Test at Rawalpindi in 2004 was one of his finest innings in an Indian jersey.
“I would always hold Sourav Ganguly as a leader in true sense with his man-management skills. Sourav and Anil Kumble were great leaders and they made me the kind of person I am,” Parthiv Patel was quoted as saying by PTI.
“I still have the Test cap with my name wrongly printed ‘Partiv’ that Dada gave me. The victories at Headingley (2002) and Adelaide (2003-04) and the half-century opening the innings at Rawalpindi will be my favorite memories,” he further added.
I am at peace with my decision: Parthiv Patel
After an 18-year-long career, Parthiv Patel finally called it quits and is happy with whatever he has achieved as a player in his career. He did not get as many chances to play for India as he would have liked as MS Dhoni was always ahead of him in the pecking order. However, he focused on helping his domestic team Gujarat become a dominant force.
Parthiv Patel has won every single domestic competition with Gujarat and also has three IPL titles to his name. He realised that it was a right time to bid adieu to the game as he had achieved everything that he wanted to as a player.
“I am at peace with my decision and slept well. Although my family members were in tears. I was contemplating this for one year and after 18 years, there is hardly anything else to achieve. I have won all domestic tournaments, three IPL trophies and Gujarat cricket is in right shape,” Parthiv Patel asserted.
Parthiv Patel represented India in 25 Tests, 38 ODIs and 2 T20Is. He made his last international appearance for the Men in Blue in a Test match against South Africa at Johannesburg in January 2018.