PEOPLE/ PARTHIV PATEL 

Little drummer boy There are many things Parthiv Patel cannot do. Only 17 years and five months of age, he cannot cast his vote if Gujarat goes to polls in the next seven months. Underage, he cannot buy a drink in most English pubs either. And, he will not be able to watch an adult action flick like Minority Report. So last Monday, under the soft glow of a late evening summer sun at Nottingham, the babyfaced, five-feet-three-inches tall debutant wicket-keeper-cum-batsman from Ahmedabad set his sights on accomplishing a simpler feat: saving a Test match for India. With defeat still a distinct possibility and about 30 overs still to go on the fifth and final day, the left-hander walked in like the boy on the burning deck. In the next 82 minutes the juniormost cricketer in the team and the youngest ever to play as a wicket-keeper in a Test match, banished all thoughts of a first innings duck from his mind and batted with the stoic serenity of a teenage saint. By the time the young Prince of Cool left the pitch, unconquered for two runs more than his age, India had saved the game. Patel had arrived as a boy. He left as a man. In their post-match analysis, television commentators - Sunil Gavaskar, Geoffrey Boycott, Ravi Shastri and others - couldn't stop gushing about Patel's application, composure and character, attributes not always applicable to some of his more illustrious teammates. They praised his exemplary glovework during England's monumental innings of 617 and pointed out that he had conceded only five extras. In a team where wicket-keepers have often been chopped and changed as frequently as disposable diapers, they admitted that the teenager, whose face can still launch a thousand babyfood products, looked like a durable long-distance runner for the job. The English press was equally effusive in its praise. 'He is not much higher than the stumps and he was playing only his ninth first-class match but showed courage, coolness and excellent technique to keep a tiring England attack at bay,' wrote The London Times. The Guardian hailed his 'common sense' and Daily Mail waxed eloquent about the 'maturity' of 'the little drummer boy'. The echoes of Patel's success in distant England goes far beyond the playing fields. Coming from a town that is still ravaged and torn apart by communal violence earlier this year, he has given Ahmedabad a rare reason to celebrate. The son of a former corporator turned small-time businessman, he lives in the hypersensitive Relief Road area in the walled city. He escaped the riots being away on tour with the India A team to South Africa and Sri Lanka. On the few days he was around when the state capital was aflame, his parents put him up at a relative's in Nahapura so that the teenager didn't miss out on the practice. It was cricket rather than the riots that made him miss his class XII examinations this year. With mega-bucks staring him in the face, who cares for an exam or two. Call it Destiny. Patel, who is yet to play even in a Ranji trophy game, was pitchforked into the playing 11 on the eve of the Test match at Trent Bridge when first-choice wicket-keeper, Haryana's Ajay Ratra, sustained a crushing toe injury. And, Patel was quick to grab the chance. Former India wicket-keeper Syed Kirmani, to many India's best player ever behind the stumps, too is suitably impressed. 'He is both competent and confident. With experience, he should improve more,' he says. On the evidence of the past few seasons, Patel is upgrading himself with the speed of a Microsoft product. His travel schedule is busier than a high-flying executive. From journeying to Commonwealth Bank Academy in Adelaide for special wicket-keeping training under the likes of Rodney Marsh and Wayne Phillips to captaining India in the under-17 Asia Cup in Bangladesh in 2000-01, from guiding the under-19 team to the World Cup semi-final in New Zealand in 2001-02 to performing creditably during the India A tours in South Africa and Sri Lanka earlier this year, he has improved with every passing month. Many sporting success stories have their origins in the private passion of a near relative or a dear friend. In Parthiv's case, it was his cricket-crazy uncle, Jagat Patel, who not only introduced him to the game but also made his nephew's career the mission statement of his own life. 'He follows him everywhere and has watched most games Parthiv has played,' says sister Kinjal. Ironically, his father Ajay Patel and his mother Nishaben had never seen their son play before the second Test in the ongoing India-England cricket series. And, they were far more nervous watching him bat than Parthiv himself was out there. The remarkable equanimity of temperament, father Ajaybhai points out, is a trait Parthiv carries from childhood. Except when as a four-year-old Parthiv rolled down from the stairs of his terrace and landed with a thud. Who wouldn't bawl his head off at something like that. It required eight stitches just above the right eye for the wound to be sealed but the teenager still carries the scars. Even Gujarat's under-19 cricket coach and former Ranji trophy player Vijay Patel recalls how, during a Cooch Behar Trophy match against Maharashtra, he sent the 15-year-old out to bat with the team precariously poised at zero for two wickets. 'He batted aggressively and with great confidence. Since then, I have seen, he seldom gets bogged down by situations,' he says. Indeed, aggression is the keynote of Parthiv's batting, a facet not on view during Monday's dour match-saving knock. No surprise that in recent interviews he has talked about mercurial Australian wicket-keeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist as his hero. 'He loves to play his shots, the square cut being his favourite stroke,' says coach Vijay Patel. Parthiv started out as a pure batsman at the age of nine. During a local cricket coaching camp he kept wickets for fun in the nets. Only 10 years old, he enjoyed the experience. 'The next day, I kept wickets wearing gloves. The coach praised me. I have been a wicket-keeper-batsman since,' he said in an interview sometime ago. Every coach Parthiv has worked with testifies to his dedication as a cricketer. In a recent interview, one of his coaches with the Sports Authority of Gujarat, Sailesh Pandya, said, 'We would ask him to come to the camp early, and tell him to leave half an hour late. He would do that year in and year out.' Present coach Vijay Patel echoes these sentiments. Ever since he picked up the willow, Parthiv has spent most of his waking hours engrossed in the game: either practising in the stadium or playing on the terrace or reading magazines on the game. 'Even during his sleep he keeps talking cricket,' laughs sister Kinjal. Only, he doesn't mind listening to Sonu Nigam or eating a good Chinese meal occasionally. The world of sports is littered with stories of those failed to translate potential into performance. Something went wrong in many of these cases: Either absence of hard work, or lack of dedication, or, sheer bad luck. In Parthiv's case, at least till now, nothing seems amiss. Only the little finger in his right hand. As most of us have heard, fast-fading filmstar Hrithik Roshan has one more finger than usual. Parthiv Patel has nine. Who knows, may be nine is a luckier number than eleven.