JOIN US Parthiv Patel has a knack of scoring big knocks in crunch games for Gujarat. The 31-year-old, who had slammed 105 in the Vijay Hazare final against Delhi last year, once again produced a match-winning innings against Mumbai here on Saturday.
The seasoned campaigner said he rated his knock of 143 as one of his best. “It was the final day and to score when it was needed the most…I have played a few knocks like this but this would be right up there, there is no doubt about it,” said the Gujarat skipper at the post-match press conference after his side beat Mumbai by five wickets to bag their maiden Ranji title.
Parthiv said despite a formidable opponent in Mumbai, their approach of taking the title clash as just another game worked for them. “Obviously, all the players start off by not wanting to take the pressure of the final and we tried our best to follow that.
“We took a lead of 100 runs and then the way we bowled, we had a plan and we stuck to it. And in batting also, ideally on the fifth day, as a captain and as a team, we were happy about the situation we were in. We wanted to be in a situation where we have ten wickets in hand or we have to play the whole day and make 250 runs,” he offered.
Speaking about his knock, Parthiv said: “I just wanted to go out there and play my natural game which is an attacking style of batting. I knew that if I get in and get a big score, then the others would rally around me and we would be able to get the runs."
Poor fielding
Mumbai skipper Aditya Tare blamed poor fielding for their defeat.
“I feel our fielding in both the innings let us down. Our batting effort in the first innings was below par. We played seven batsmen and we should have done better than just getting 228 runs on the board,” said Tare, whose team dropped a clutch of catches, letting Gujarat off the hook.