DUBAI // In a squad including batting giants such as Chris Gayle, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, it must be easy for little Parthiv Patel to lapse into status envy.
Once the coming man of Indian wicketkeeping, Patel’s star has long been eclipsed by the ascent of MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik.
The diminutive gloveman still possesses rare talent, though, as was evident when he outshone his illustrious colleagues to set up victory for Royal Challengers Bangalore yesterday.
After dominating the occasion two nights before in Sharjah, when they posted 84 in less than eight overs, Kohli and Singh contributed precisely nil for RCB against Mumbai Indians this time around.
Each was fired out without scoring by Zaheer Khan, their India teammate.
It mattered nought, though, as Bangalore cruised home from 17 for three with no further loss.
The alliance between Parthiv and de Villiers was worth 99 in the seven-wicket win.
Although Patel was the dominant partner in a stand with the world’s No 1 ranked Test batsmen, he preferred to deflect the praise.
“He’s one of the greatest players at the moment,” Patel said of his South African colleague.
“Having so many great players in the side makes my job easier.
“Today, we had to give ourselves a bit of time because the wicket wasn’t that easy and we had lost three early wickets as well. Thankfully our bowlers did a good job so we didn’t have to chase too big a target.
“I took singles and AB took on the bowlers and then later he took singles and gave me the strike. It was good to play with AB de Villiers.”
Success will have tasted particularly sweet for Yuzvendra Chahal, the leg-spinner who was Bangalore’s most successful bowler, with two for 17 from his four overs.
He had previously been contracted to Mumbai but had little success there. He has impressed since switching colours to the red of RCB.
“He’s excellent,” Patel said of Chahal. “He plays for the same company as I do and he has always done well in the Twenty20 format.
“Unfortunately, until last year he was at Mumbai Indians, who have always had quality spinners, so he didn’t get the chance to play. Here he got the chance and he was brilliant.”
Mumbai have made a miserable start to their title defence. The champions have lost both their matches in the UAE and Zaheer said they have much to improve on.
“It’s still early days in the tournament, so that’s a positive, we still have time to regroup in terms of batting,” Zaheer said. “It is obvious that there are little things and areas to work on in terms of our batting.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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