Parthiv Patel: Tried and Tested

The national selectors have recalled 31-year-old Parthiv Patel to replace injured wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha for the third Test between India and England in Mohali from November 26.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India, said in a statement on Wednesday morning that "the BCCI medical team confirms that India wicket keeper Wriddhiman Saha developed a strain in his left thigh" during the second Test in Visakhapatnam that ended on Monday.

"As a precautionary measure, Saha has been advised rest and will not play in the next Test match of the series. Parthiv Patel will replace Saha in the Indian team for the third Test to be played from November 26, 2016, at Mohali."

Patel has played in 20 Tests, the first 19 from 2002 to 2004 before he turned 20. He played his 20th Test in 2008 in the third Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo after Dinesh Karthik was dropped following poor glovework in the previous Tests. Patel's work behind the stumps in that Test at Sara Oval was no better that he had to be dropped and sent to work on his keeping in domestic cricket.

The Gujarat captain has improved his wicket-keeping over the years but that coincided with the Mahendra Singh Dhoni era that other wicketkeepers got a chance to play an odd Test here and there due to either suspension for slow over rate, injury or that Dhoni preferred rest.

While Patel is the preferred choice of the team management that includes chief coach Anil Kumble, to whom Patel kept all his Test career, and the selectors whose chairman is former stumper MSK Prasad, it may look like the young and upcoming wicketkeepers may be hard done by.

Naman Ojha, who was the India 'A' captain on the tour of Australia in September, missed the first four matches of the on-going Ranji Trophy season due to side strain. He returned to action for Madhya Pradesh, currently playing his second match of the season against Railways in New Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla.

The 33-year-old Ojha was the stand-by wicketkeeper in the last couple of years who travelled to England in 2014, Australia in 2014-15 and to Sri Lanka in 2015, where he made his Test debut. Ojha may have missed and at 33, is not getting any younger.

Kerala's Sanju Samson, 22, may have kept wickets for India 'A' in the quadrangular series in Australia in August-September but experts feel that he is too young for Tests and has age on his side.

That leaves with the 19-year-old Rishabh Pant, who was spoken highly by Rahul Dravid prior the Under-19 World Cup early this year, who ought to have been the replacement for Saha, considering the roaring form that he is with the bat in the current Ranji Trophy season for Delhi.

But giving Pant a Test debut in the all-important Mohali Test would be putting undue pressure on him, feel experts.

Former India wicket-keeper Kiran More, who has been working with the current crop of Indian wicketkeepers at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru as a consultant, lauded Patel's selection back into the Test set-up.

"Excellent selection," More, former chairman of selectors said of Patel. "Parthiv has been there around, a very much matured cricketer, doing very well in domestic. He is a very good No. 6-7 batsman. It is a good call," More told DNA on Wednesday.

"It is a great comeback for Parthiv. He is a guy who is leading Gujarat from the front. Fighting for his place, playing domestic cricket after playing international cricket is not easy.

More said that Patel as one of the finest captains in domestic cricket. "If he played long for India, he would have been leading India. He has a good cricketing brain," the 54-year-old More said.

Patel was called to Bangladesh as a back-up for Dhoni before the T20 Asia Cup earlier this year after Dhoni suffered spasm. But Patel was in the reserves as Dhoni was fine to play in the tournament that preceded the ICC World T20.

This year has seen veterans make a comeback after a long layoff. Ashish Nehra was picked in the T20 side leading to the WT20 after last playing in 2011. Gautam Gambhir was brought back to the Test squad after two years. And now, Patel.

What this selection committee has done is that it has given anyone and everyone playing in domestic cricket the hope and that the doors are not shut for anyone.