Nottingham, August 13:
The big
three of Indian batting Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and
Sourav Ganguly all performed brilliantly to enable India
to hold England to an honourable draw in the second Test here
yesterday. Between them they made 306 runs.
But in the dying
moments of the Test, it was a baby-faced, diminutive Indian who
stole the show and the hearts of a big crowd and the hard-boiled
English players.
Parthiv Patel looks
shorter than his 5.3 inches and even younger than his 17 years.
In fact, England captain Nasser Hussain thinks he is only 12.
Yet for 82 minutes, he
defied everything that England's five fast bowlers threw at him
to deny the whole team even an outside chance to snatch a
thrilling victory. The debutant wicket keeper made 19 unbeaten
runs but from the praise he received from the captains of both
teams, it would appear as if he had made 119 on his debut.
Standing behind the
Gujarati lad as he battled on was the England wicket keeper Alec
Stewart the veteran on the verge of his 40th birthday and old
enough to be his father.
In a game blotted in
modern times by sledging, it was heartening to see not only
Stewart pat Patel on the back and say plenty of encouraging
words but also all the England players led by Hussain clap him
as he walked back into the pavilion with the match drawn.
Patel, the youngest
ever wicket keeper in Test history, showed that he could indeed
play with the big boys.
"He (Patel) showed a
lot of character in difficult time. When Harbhajan was out, I
really thought we could lose the game", Ganguly said about the
youngster.
"He fought on well and
has done well for India in what is his only first Test," he
said.
Ganguly said when the
youngster walked past him on to the ground after he was out for
99 and returning to the pavilion, his only advice to Patel was
to do his best.
"He looks good with his
batting and technique against fast bowlers. I hope he gets
better and better in every game."
England captain Nasser
Hussain was similarly effusive in his praise saying that he not
only played well but showed no signs of nerves.
"He not only played
well but behaved impeccably as a person and showed no nerves. He
just got on with his game and has been very impressive," Hussain
said.
"I thought it was great
for world cricket today with our young fast bowler Harmison
running in to bowl at this lad. It is great for world cricket
when you see these youngsters coming on though it may make us
feel a little bit old," commented Hussain.
"It is especially great
for Indian cricket and there must be people out there in India
watching this, kids and all, who would get inspired. I hope
India sticks with him, whether it is for this series or for the
future," he remarked.
Patel himself said he
was pretty nervous to start with in the initial moments of the
Test but felt encouraged after the way he kept wickets in
England's first innings.
"It gave me a lot of
confidence and the team too made me believe in my ability," the
youngster said.
