[ad_1]
Parthiv Patel is one in every of the solely 4 cricketers– captain Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Yuzvendra Chahal being the others – in the present Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) squad who was a part of their set-up when the IPL bandwagon final travelled to UAE in 2014.
“We’ve played here in 2014 but six years is a long time. The world is different, nothing is the same,” Parthiv tells Hindustan Times in an unique chat forward of IPL 2020.
Keeping the pandemic intervention apart, so much has certainly modified. Kohli has graduated from being one in every of the greatest all-format batsmen to maybe the greatest one presently. De Villiers has retired from worldwide cricket and Chahal has established himself as one in every of India’s main spinners in white-ball cricket.
Also Read | McCullum reveals ‘life-changing’ phrases of Ganguly after his 158*
Through their clean upward rise in worldwide cricket, the three pillars of RCB remained with the franchise of their quest to win their maiden IPL. But not Parthiv. His journey was a bit completely different and never precisely clean. It by no means is with Parthiv.
The left-hander was launched after the 2014 season and was purchased again forward of 2018. In between these 4 years, Parthiv made a comeback to the Indian side after eight years, saved wickets, opened the batting in South African circumstances, put his hand up each time the staff required his providers. It was the identical with RCB, he slid down to center order in 2018 then acquired again to opening the batting completely final 12 months and had his most impactful season in IPL, scoring 373 runs at a strike price of 139.17.
“My role? I’m a wicket-keeper batsman, I’ll keep wickets and bat normally,” says Parthiv adopted by loud laughs. It’s one other incontrovertible fact that Kohli was solely 12 when Parthiv made his India debut in 2002 and De Villiers was nonetheless two years away from donning the South African jersey. That’s simply Parthiv Patel, it took a second try to make him confess that he’s now a part of the management group of RCB.
Also Read | Steve Smith’s wicket on Ravi Bishnoi’s want listing
“Leading the side comes naturally, there are a lot of young players (in the RCB squad), who are quite comfortable chatting with me. I try and help them out, make sure they are in good space, that’s something you have to do as a senior player, help out the junior guys,” provides Parthiv, who led Gujarat to their Ranji Trophy title in 2017.
After the left-hander’s excellent final season, there ideally ought to be no questions on his batting place in RCB. But when it comes to the IPL, hardly something is on the anticipated traces. The arrival of Australia restricted-overs skipper Aaron Finch has thrown an attention-grabbing headache in entrance of the RCB staff administration about their opening mixture.
“Thankfully and fortunately I’m not Mike Hesson (team director). So I don’t have to make those decisions. It’s about the team, it’s never about the individual player. Whatever the team decides I’ll be alright with it,” Parthiv says.
RCB has a completely completely different assist employees spearheaded by staff director Mike Hesson and head coach Simon Katich. Parthiv says, Hesson has introduced in calmness in the dressing room.
“I think there’s a lot of calmness around the group and a lot of positive vibes with him (Mike Hesson around). The season’s new, everyone is looking forward to it. Mike has been a successful coach all over the world. So far whatever practice sessions we’ve had, he has added great value. He gives importance to each player of the squad. Hopefully, we can replicate this vibe and practice into performance (when the IPL starts).”
Unlike the majority of RCB cricketers, Parthiv has received the IPL thrice – as soon as with CSK in 2010 and twice with Mumbai Indians in 2015 and 2017 – however the 35-year-previous is aware of the significance to end RCB’s trophy drought.
“RCB fans have always been loyal, they’ve been a great support for us throughout all these years. Like every year, we’ll be going into the tournament with the hope of winning it. As one of the senior players I can assure you that we are going play our heart out in every game and try and win whenever we step on the field,” he provides.
The left-hander was nonetheless fast to add the challenges of enjoying in a ‘different environment’ this 12 months.
“It’s obviously going to be different. It’s not the same playing in Chinnaswamy, playing at home makes a whole lot of difference. There is always a huge crowd, there is a lot of buzz among people. This time it will be without the crowd, we’ll be playing in different conditions. Hopefully, by playing cricket we can bring joy to the world and to the Indian people.”
[ad_2]
Source hyperlink