Out-of-favour India wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel has revealed that in the MS Dhoni-era, everyone else was battling for second wicket-keeper’s slot.
The likes of Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel, who made their international debut before Dhoni, were overlooked for the job as Dhoni had cemented his place in the Indian team as a wicketkeeper-batsman.
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“At that point of time, the situation was that Dhoni was the captain and everyone else was battling for the second wicket-keeper’s slot. I had accepted it. After getting dropped I decided to set myself a certain standard, set myself a certain amount of intensity with which I would play my cricket,” Parthiv told rediff.com.
“Be it club cricket, be it Ranji Trophy, be it district cricket, be it the IPL or whatever level it is, I was going to play with a certain amount of intensity. I was going to enjoy it, the level didn’t matter to me,” he added.
Dhoni was longing to return to competitive cricket after a gap of more than ten months with the commencement of IPL 2020. But as the cash-rich league is postponed “indefinitely” due to the coronavirus outbreak, there have been quite a few debates on his future with an eye on the World T20, slated for the October-November window.
The wicketkeeper-batsman last played a competitive match was the World Cup semifinal against New Zealand in July last year. In his absence, Rishabh Pant donned the gloves for India until the Australia series at home wherein he got injured and the responsibility was handed to KL Rahul, who has so far excelled in the job.