Jeetan Patel, like Graeme Swann, decided there was little to be gained from looking flash. His wardrobe has never included the doosra, the modern spinner’s most fashionable accessory until questions arose about its legality. Instead, Patel’s style has been retro-chic, dressing up his deliveries in different speeds, trajectories and angles.
Jeetan Shashi Patel was born on May 7, 1980, in Wellington, more than 11,500 miles away from Birmingham, now his second home. His father, Shashi – who used to run a lotto shop in Miramar, a Wellington suburb – met his mother Kelly, in Leicestershire, before they moved to New Zealand, where her family had already relocated. Shashi, a Gujarati, had played club cricket in and around Melton Mowbray. “Being an Indian, you always follow what your parents want,” says Jeetan, “and so cricket was always on the agenda for me.”
As a throwback to the days of the long-serving overseas player, Jeetan Patel has become a hugely popular figure at Warwickshire. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2015.
Not that his old-school cool arose purely by design. By the time it became hip to pull the other one out of the bag, Patel was in his mid-twenties, and part of the New Zealand team. Attempting to add to his portfolio via experimentation in the nets, he says, came at a price.
“Sure, I flirted with unorthodox methods, because that’s what you have to do to stay up with the game. But with that came injuries, and I couldn’t do my job sitting on the sidelines. To me, if that was the consequence, there was no point continuing.
“Travelling with a new-born isn’t easy,” he says. “We had just set up camp, so for me to pack the bags and send the family back home, with the uncertainty of whether I would be playing in the West Indies, and whether Warwickshire would then replace me – that all came into it. My family’s security was really important to me.”
In fact, there is a sense of unfinished business for Patel, whose last association with his home country was not a happy one. Playing for a New Zealand XI against England in early 2013, he opted for a night out mid-match with his old mate Daniel Vettori. He fell over drunk, and spent hours in A&E rather than on the field. A conversation with the selectors last winter reaffirmed his availability, both as a player and mentor.
He is undoubtedly a more complete cricketer than he was before 2009, when he won the bulk of his 69 international caps, 39 of them in the 50-over game. In a season in which Warwickshire remained competitive from first ball to last – finishing in the top two in all formats – Patel was a reassuring omnipresence.
He could also be a match-winner, spinning Somerset out with four wickets in each innings at Taunton. And he never looked beaten, notably when his counterblast of 74 in a stand of 118 with Ian Bell had given Warwickshire hope in the opening Championship game against Sussex.
A first-class average of 23 confirms his batting is not to be underestimated. When he claimed a five-wicket bag on first-class debut for Wellington in early 2000, he was still the No.11 for his club side Eastern Suburbs. Now there are few more dangerous tailenders on the circuit, and over 500 Championship runs last season made him one of county cricket’s leading all-rounders. No wonder Warwickshire have tied him to the daily grind he loves for the next two seasons.
Jeetan Patel played in 24 Tests, 43 ODIs and 11 T20Is for New Zealand and collectively bagged 130 international wickets. Till date, he has taken 892 first-class wickets at 32.77.
