South Africa vs India 2018: 5 reasons why Parthiv Patel deserves his place in the squad

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Parthiv Patel belongs to a generation of Indian wicket-keepers including Dinesh Karthik and Wriddhiman Saha who were eclipsed by the legend of MS Dhoni. When Parthiv made his test debut at Trent Bridge against England in 2002, he was just 17 years old.

His sporadic career encompasses a long and eventful span of fifteen years.

Now he has been picked as a backup keeper for Wriddhiman Saha for the South Africa tour. Last year, he had made a comeback after 8 long years in the Indian Test side for the third Test against England. His grit and perseverance have compelled the selectors to hand him a national call-up again. His meritorious comebacks have put him the same league as Ashish Nehra and Yuvraj Singh.

Provides flexibility in the batting order

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The Gujarat captain has proved over time that like the Joker in the pack of cards he can fit in anywhere in the batting line up. He used to bat lower down the order in his initial days. Then, he made the shift of batting at no 4 for his Ranji side. When he received a surprise call-up for the third test against England, he batted both in the middle order and opened the innings for India.

“I’ve opened in limited overs and T20. I learnt to bat anywhere, from opening to middle-order, as the team needed. In fact, most wicket-keepers are used to batting at any position. The team expects that,” says Patel confidently.

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