Two years ago, Parthiv Patel had led Gujarat to its maiden Ranji Trophy title win. He also scored a brilliant 143 to guide his team’s chase of 312 in the final against a superior Mumbai side.
However, Parthiv--who was touring to Australia with the Indian team--could only play one match this season. But as Gujarat takes on Kerala in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal, Parthiv is back to lead the side. He spoke to Sportstar on Monday.
Excerpts…
What are your thoughts on the quarterfinal match?
It is going to be an exciting match. I think this young Gujarat side has done well to reach this stage, without me. I am happy to be back with the team. It feels good to play Ranji Trophy again.
How do you see Kerala as an opponent?
It is a very good team. It must have played good cricket to reach here. And it also played very well last year.
But your team had beaten Kerala in a well-contested match at Nadiad last season. In that game, left-arm spinner, Siddharth Desai, had taken nine wickets on debut. He is now your leading bowler. How do you see his rise?
He has done really well. It is great that he has taken 52 wickets from just 11 matches. And he is very young, too. He has done well for India U-19 as well. It is good to see him making quick progress.
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With Piyush Chawla and Axar Patel in your ranks, Gujarat has a very good spin attack…
But looking at the wicket, we may have to take a tough decision and omit one spinner. The wicket looks a bit green and I don’t think we could play three spinners.
So the seamers could come into play?
Yes, we have good seamers too, like Roosh Kalaria, Chintan Gaja and Arzan Nagwaswalla. We have a balanced attack.
How do you see Priyank Panchal? He has been in great form…
Priyank has been scoring 800, 900 runs season after season. It is time he gets recognition at the higher level. But unfortunately, Manpreet Juneja won’t play because he has a groin injury.
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