All the Patels who played international cricket

Have you ever wondered how many Patels have played cricket for their countries?

This is not as simple as you may think, as you will find persons with this surname in several countries outside India. And we are not counting Patil, which sounds similar but is a different community

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patel

While the majority of Patels are Hindu, there are some Muslim Patels as well, such as Ajaz Yunus Patel who is in the news now. There was also Mohammad Munaf Patel who played for India earlier.

In the following tables, the data is corrected up to 04 Dec 2021.

We start with Test players:

A total of 11 players. The most capped one is Kenya-born New Zealand player DN (Dipak) Patel with 37 Tests. For India, it is PA (Parthiv) Patel with 25 Tests. He is believed to be the youngest Test wicketkeeper. The current players are AR (Axar) for India and AY (Ajaz) for New Zealand.

The first Test player was JM (Jasu) who made his debut in 1955. Although he had a short career, he is remembered for his contribution to India’s first win against Australia in 1959 with 9 wickets for 69 in an innings and 14-124 in the match.

Incidentally, Ajaz Patel finished with 10-119 and 4-106 in the ongoing Test, which gives him match figures of 14-225.

Then we have ODI players:

19 players here.

Apart from the Test-playing countries, there are representatives from Canada, Kenya and the USA. Canada and Kenya do not have ODI status today, but we count their players anyway.

There is some overlap with the Test players, as many have played in both formats.

And T20I players:

There are 23 players here. Apart from the Test and ODI-playing countries, we have players from Malawi, Lesotho, Seychelles, Panama, Chile, Uganda, Bulgaria and Czechia.

Probably it is more appropriate to consider only the 13 who played for Test and ODI teams.

The final tabulation excludes players from teams which have never played Tests or ODIs:

We thus finish with a total of 24 players. Note the overlaps, as several have played in two or even three formats.

Oddly, Ajaz has played in Tests and T20Is but not ODIs

Mallett, Davidson and India

Australia lost two of its Test stalwarts on successive days; Ashley Mallett on Oct 29 and Alan Davidson on the 30th.

While Mallett was somewhat overshadowed by the Australian fast bowlers of his time, he often played an useful role as the sole spinner.

He did well bowling against India, as you can see here:

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/6472.html?class=1;template=results;type=bowling

His bowling average against India was his best against all Test countries. He only played one series against India, in 1969-70. He took 28 wickets including his only 10-for in the last Test at Madras, which gave Australia a 3-1 win. Indian fans of that period remember it more for Viswanath’s debut and numerous crowd disturbances.

Davidson is better-known for being the first to score over a 100 runs and take a 10-for in the same Test. This was at the Tied Test at Brisbane:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/west-indies-tour-of-australia-1960-61-61907/australia-vs-west-indies-1st-test-62888/full-scorecard

In later years this was overshadowed by the feats of Botham, Imran and Shakib who scored centuries along with 10-fors. No one else has emulated Davidson.

He did not do too well as a batsman against India: https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/4902.html?class=1;template=results;type=batting

But did somewhat better as a bowler:

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/4902.html?class=1;template=results;type=bowling

His bowling average against India was his best against all Test countries. His best innings figures (7-93) and match figures (12-124) were also against India.

This was at Kanpur in 1959-60, which marked India’s first win against Australia:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/australia-tour-of-india-1959-60-61422/india-vs-australia-2nd-test-62869/full-scorecard

Australia batted first, took a first-innings lead, and lost. An Australian left-arm pace bowler took 12 wickets.

20 years passed. 7 Tests were played at Kanpur and all were drawn (including the one against Australia in 1969-70).

In 1979-80, a weakened Australian team toured India.

The story was the same as in 1959-60:

Australia batted first, took a first-innings lead, and lost. An Australian left-arm pace bowler took 12 wickets.

The only difference was that the bowler was Dymock instead of Davidson:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/australia-tour-of-india-1979-80-61434/india-vs-australia-3rd-test-63243/full-scorecard

Like Davidson, Dymock took 5 wickets in the first innings and 7 in the second.

Unlike in 1959 when Jasu Patel took 14 wickets, here the spoils were shared by Kapil, Ghavri and Shivlal Yadav.

But these two Tests at Kanpur had a remarkable number of similarities, more than those of the two Australia-England Tests of 1877 and 1977.

Cricketing coincidences-2

A well-known one pertains to the very first Test at Melbourne in March 1877 and the Centenary Test a hundred years later. In both cases Australia won by 45 runs.

See the scorecard of 1877:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62396.html

and of 1977:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63189.html

Although the story-lines of the two Tests are somewhat different, the end result was the same. Note that one performance in the 1877 Test remains a Test record even today.

Now here is another lesser-known one involving two brothers-Tony Greig (58 Tests) and the lesser-known Ian Greig (2 Tests). Tony had one of the best all-round debuts including 4-53. His brother also took 4-53 on debut.

Tony: http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63084.html

Ian:   http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63317.html

Finally another one including two Tests, which had somewhat more similarities than the two Tests at Melbourne.

Our story begins at the India-Australia Test at Kanpur in 1959-60, which you will remember as India’s first victory over Australia:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62869.html

Jasu Patel’s figures of 9-69 and 14-124 stood as records for a long time. The first one was bettered only by Anil Kumble in 1998-99, and the second was bettered only by Narendra Hirwani in 1987-88.

Other points to note are:

1. India won by over 100 runs after conceding a first-innings lead
2. An Australian left-arm pace bowler (Davidson) took 12 wickets (5 and 7)

Almost 20 years passed. Kanpur saw 7 drawn Tests in succession, and got the reputation of being the deadest Test pitch in the world. These Tests were generally dull draws, with some highlights like GR Viswanath’s duck and century on debut in 1969-70 and India’s then highest total of 644/7 in 1978-79. Then came another Australian team in 1979-80, admittedly a rather weak team without the Packer players.

This was the result:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63243.html

There was no record-breaking bowling like that of Jasu Patel, but still

1. India won by over 100 runs after conceding a first-innings lead
2. An Australian left-arm pace bowler (Dymock) took 12 wickets (5 and 7)

Add to this the fact that both Australian bowler’s names started with a D, and there are certainly more coincidences than in the better-known Tests at Melbourne.

India and Australia have met only three times in Tests at this venue, in 1959-60, 1969-70 and 1979-80 but the 10-year cycle was broken in the next decade.

 

 

The Hardik Patel cricket team

Breaking news: Hardik Patel’s followers to stage protest at ODI venue in Rajkot:

http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/saurashtra-cricket-association-seeks-id-proof-for-indian-south-africa-odi-tickets/

and

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/gujarat/sca-requests-patidars-not-to-make-rajkot-odi-a-platform-for-their-agitation/

Not sure if the Patels would get into demanding reservation in cricket teams. In case they did, here is all the information they need.

Like Smiths, Browns and Joneses, Patels have played for several countries in international cricket: India, New Zealand and England in Tests plus Kenya and Canada in ODIs/T20Is.

We start with the Test players:

9 players from three countries.The best Test performer overall would be Kenya-born Dipak Patel, followed by Brijesh Patel (who lived mainly in Bangalore) and Parthiv Patel from Ahmedabad (who remains the youngest Test wicket-keeper). Munaf Patel and Jasu Patel had their moments, with the latter holding the then innings and match bowling records for India which helped them to defeat Australia for the first time. These records stood for over a quarter century. And Rashid Patel is one of the unfortunates who played their only Test without scoring any runs (a pair) or taking wickets (though he did take a catch).

The only century is by Brijesh (though Dipak has a 99). Six fivers among them (three by Dipak although Jasu has the best figures of 9/69) as well as a tenner (14-124 by Jasu).

Now for the ODI players:

Here we have representatives from Kenya and Canada as well. India’s Axar Patel is there too, while Munaf Patel was one of the unsung heroes of India’s World Cup win in 2011.

Parthiv Patel has the highest score of 95 here, while England’s Samit Patel is the only one with a fiver.

Now we come to the T20I players who are considerably fewer:

All 5 countries mentioned above are still represented here. The most matches (22) have been played by Rakap of Kenya, the highest score is 88* by Hiral of Canada and best bowling (3/17) by Axar of India (a true multinational sharing of honours)

Axar Patel also took 4/0 in a FC match against South Africa A recently.

Hardik and his friends would realize that their compatriots have done well enough in cricket (particularly those who lived outside India).