Moving from India to USA cricket team: All you need to know about Smit Patel

A promising wicketkeeper-batter, Smit Patel’s fate was similar to thousands in India. Cut-throat competition, multiple players claiming stake on a single position in the international cricket team and very few managing to get in and stay in.

Career highlights in India

Patel was one of the heroes of India’s biggest triumphs in cricket, the Under-19 World Cup victory in 2012. His 62-run knock at Townsville alongside skipper Unmukt Chand, who got an unbeaten 111, led India to successfully chase 226, and win the summit clash by 6 wickets. A teen-aged Patel had the same ambition that millions have in India, play cricket at the highest level and win games for the nation.

He continued the grind, changed bases, tried to catch the attention of the selectors, but given he was competing for a no-entry spot, he never came even close to making those dreams true. Patel’s career coincided with unarguably the finest wicketkeeper-batter, finisher and captain, MS Dhoni. The man with an unshakable spot in the team.

Smit Patel (in Espn Cricinfo) confirmed that he has retired from all forms of cricket under BCCI and will be starting a new phase in American cricket.

In the 2012 U-19 WC final, he scored unbeaten 64 runs and the winning shot was hit by Smit Patel.

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) May 31, 2021

The highs of the Under-19 World Cup gradually faded while Patel moved from one team to another in search of opportunities. He represented Gujarat, Tripura, Goa and Baroda, all to get better chances, but nothing of that could materialize in an international call-up. In 55 First-Class matches, Patel amassed 3278 runs at an impressive average of 39.49, including 11 centuries and 14 half-centuries. With the gloves, he named himself 114 catches and 9 stumpings.

Patel’s List-A record was not as impressive, but it made a case for a player who could have built on it. He averages 32.47 in 41 games, having scored 1234 runs with a couple of centuries and eight half-centuries. None of it made a difference, however, as he continued to wait on the sidelines, looking for his chance to arrive, which never came.

He was never a part of the Indian Premier League either, therefore, missed any chance to grab the limelight at one of the biggest cricket platforms in India. Patel is still 28, and having waited a decade to make it count, has realized that it is not meant to be for him in the land of stifling competition.

“All this is bound to happen when there’s stifling competition, so I’ve got no complaints. I’m blessed to have played for India at a world event – few get that chance. So I’m moving on with happy memories. All my paperwork with the BCCI is complete. I’ve sent in my retirement letter. So the India chapter of my cricket career is over,” he recently said during a chat with ESPNcricinfo.

Currently, in Arizona, Patel is representing a club team at a local tournament, having decided to leave India and shift permanently to the US. Leaving India gives him a leeway to play franchise cricket, and he was recently roped in by the CPL team Barbados Tridents for the upcoming season in August-September.

With his family being in the States and Patel, a green-card holder, having himself spent a considerable time there since 2010, it should not be troubling for him to settle in a foreign land. However, he does admit that ‘playing in India for 12 years and leaving suddenly is intimidating’. After years of ignorance, that is the pain he has chosen to take as he eyes a new beginning in another corner of the world.