End to wilderness duty for Patel

With seven Indians on the sick list and three of them pacers — S Sreesanth, RP Singh and Ajit Agarkar — fresh auditioning was required to pair up with Zaheer Khan in the pace department. So as the team management decided to draft in Ishant Sharma, Ranadeb Bose and Patel, Zaheer fished out his former Baroda mate’s England number and passed it on the skipper.

“Zaheer and me are friends, so he had my number and Rahul made a call from his phone,” told the 28-year-old to The Indian Express, but the tone of his voice somehow made him 10 years younger.

Though Patel hasn’t bowled an international ball yet, he did make it to the India squad way back during the 2002-03 tour of New Zealand just before the World Cup in South Africa.

“It was disappointing not to get a look-in even in one of the seven ODIs. The pitches were so lively,” he says, remembering the series where the team totals reached 200 only once in seven games. Sitting on the sidelines and watching balls fly was disheartening for the pacer, who before and after that international trip had to deal with the dead domestic tracks in India.

But post-New Zealand Patel didn’t live in a green haze but understood the ground realities of the Ranji circuit. His repeatedly high wicket tally had a big role of play in Baroda, taking the final twice and reaching the semis four times in the last nine years since Patel made a switch from Gujarat to Baroda.

The assistant coach of the Baroda team for the last three years, Sanjiv Sawant, can’t hide his excitement as he says, “He had 37 wickets this season and he is bowling in a great rhythm. I cannot wait for game to start tomorrow and see him in an India shirt. Hopefully, he plays.”

Former chairman of national selectors Kiran More says the break was overdue as he speaks about Patel’s contribution to Baroda cricket. “When Zaheer and Irfan Pathan were on national duty, he was the one who was the relentless performer on the Ranji circuit. I think his is a bigger contribution for Baroda’s performance in the last decade,” he says.

Patel too is a bit uncomfortable when asked if the presence of India pacers in the Ranji team made things difficult for him. “Irfan and Zaheer are friends, but it was quite obvious where all the focus was when they returned to play for Baroda. The media and the coverage used to be focused on them and at times my performance became secondary,” he says.

The case in point was the Ranji quarters when Pathan returned from South Africa to play for Baroda against UP. As the big media contingent converged at Baroda, Pathan hogged the limelight despite his personal failure with the ball while Patel the performer found mere mentions in the reports.

But Patel isn’t keen to look back at his long hard climb as he waits to take a go at the South Africans. The boy who started from a tiny village Kothambdi — it’s not even found on the India map — has finally made it to Team India.

“I had this dream of playing for India before retirement. Finally, I think I have made it,” says Patel.