Parthiv came in because of an injury to first-choice keeper
Wriddhiman Saha, who strained his left thigh during the second Test against
England in Visakhapatnam. He will not play the third Test to avoid aggravating
the injury. The announcement came about 15 hours after the India squad had been
announced with only one change. Gautam Gambhir had been dropped with
Bhuvneshwar Kumar's return bolstering the pace department. More than eight
years after his previous Test match, and four years after his last
international, wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel has earned a recall to India's Test
team.
At 17 years and 153 days, he became Test cricket's youngest wicketkeeper
in 2002; now he will be the second-oldest member in the XI if no other change
is made to the side that took field in Visakhapatnam.
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." The match is set to be played from November 26 in
Mohali. Also, it is understood that the selectors felt it was too early to hand
a debut to the 19-year-old Rishabh Pant, who has hit a triple-hundred for Delhi
this Ranji Trophy season and smashed a 48-ball ton in a game in which he scored
twin centuries. In a release, the BCCI said: " that Parthiv, 31, was ahead
of other candidates to fill Saha's role because he offers the option of a
left-hand batsman.
The other big contender was Madhya Pradesh's Naman Ojha, who
played the last Test that Saha missed. Ojha missed the start of the Ranji
Trophy with injury. However, he did play MP's last match. Tamil Nadu's Dinesh
Karthik, who has also had a good recent run with the bat, is believed to have lost
to Parthiv because of the latter's better glove work and the left-hand batting
variation.
Parthiv, who last played Test cricket in August 2008, also
had a fine start to the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy with the bat for Gujarat. He
scored 415 runs in his first eight innings at 59.28, with three fifties and a
hundred. The century came in the previous round of games, in Gujarat's second
innings against MP.
It was a brisk, unbeaten knock: 139 not out off 170 balls. "Parthiv
was considered going by form and also the wicketkeeping aspect. More
importantly, being a left-hand bat - England have a legspinner and a left-arm
spinner in Adil Rashid and Zafar Ansari.
Naman had some injuries; he didn't play in the first
three-four matches of the Ranji Trophy this year. As far as keeping is
concerned as well, Parthiv stands ahead of Dinesh Karthik. Overall, as a
package, he fits the team's requirements. There is no doubt that Parthiv's
glove work has improved considerably in the last few years. Not sure which
position he will bat in; it is up to the team now.
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