The emergence of MS Dhoni restricted the development of a few promising wicket-keeper batsmen in the country. While Dinesh Karthik is one of them, many feel that Parthiv Patel could’ve also gotten more opportunities in the Indian shirt had Dhoni not made significant forward strides with his performances. Parthiv, who made his debut for the national team before the Ranchi-lad, doesn’t believe that it was the wrong era that inhibited his development in the national team.
Parthiv made his debut for India in 2002 in Tests, and only a year later he was wearing the ODI jersey. Though he made his national team bow before Dhoni, Patel’s form remained patchy and that forced the team management to look for alternatives, the most promising of which was Dhoni.
“I don’t see myself as unlucky to be playing in the Dhoni era. I started my career before him, and I had the opportunity to perform before him,” the 35-year-old Patel said during an interaction with Fever Network’s ‘100 hours 100 stars’.
“Dhoni came into the team because I did not have a couple of good series and I was dropped. I know people can say it just to gain sympathies that I was born in the wrong era. But I don’t believe that,” he conceded.
While there’s no denying that Parthiv had the talent to become a top-class cricketer, his opportunities remained limited, especially after the emergence of Dhoni. Despite such a situation, Patel is taking the blame on his performances rather than luck as competition with Dhoni saw him lose out on what could’ve been a promising India career.
“Whatever Dhoni has achieved was something very, very special and he achieved because he made sure of the opportunities he received. I don’t feel unlucky at all,” Patel asserted.
Parthiv represented India in a total of 25 Tests, 38 ODIs and 2 T20Is, with his last appearance coming in 2018 against South Africa in the longest format.
