Patel hopes he will be fit for Fourth Test

Baby-faced Parthiv Patel is keeping his fingers crossed that he will be sufficiently fit to play in the fourth and final Test between India and England at the Oval.

The 17 year old who made his Test debut as wicketkeeper and batsman at Trent Bridge is slightly uncertain about what happens next after the injury to his right knee the last day of the Headingley match.

The South African physiotherapist attached to the Indian team says Patel is fortunate not to have suffered any lasting damage and needs to place an ice pack on his knee every two hours and 20 minutes.

Then with a bit of luck and the advantage of youth he should be as good as new when the selectors meet to decide on the line up for the Oval.

"This happened on the fourth or fifth over of the Headingley Test at about 10.15," explains a grimacing Patel.

"Ajit Agarkar was bowling at 86, 87 miles per hour, it came down in one bounce and straight away on the knee. The ball just flew up and hit the knee.

"The physio says it is nothing serious. I certainly hope to be fit for the final Test on the 5th. The selection will be made the day before."

Patel says his rendezvous with destiny at Trent Bridge was totally unexpected. As one of India's 16-member squad, he happened to be participating in casual practice when wicket-keeper Ajay Ratra was injured.

Fifteen minutes before the toss coach John Wright came and told him to get his pads on. "I was a bit nervous," Patel confesses, "but my team mates helped me out."

He has also been enormously encouraged by skipper Sourav Ganguly's description of him as a "good cricketer" and the spontaneous applause he received from his team and his English hosts at the conclusion of the Trent Bridge Test.

"As the youngest member of the team I feel great, the players have been quite helpful," he says. "I am with Wasim Jaffer most of the time. On the ground and outside they are all quite helpful all of the time, like real friends."

Now as the veteran of two Tests Patel says he has had time to think of the highs and lows in his short Test career.

He says his worst moment was dropping Nasser Hussein on the penultimate day of the Headingley Test. "It was the last ball before tea at 3.40. Nasser had scored 40. Anil Kumble was bowling. Nasser edged it and I dropped the catch.

"I was expecting it to be at a good height but it went slightly lower."

By the same token his best moment was when he caught Hussein at Trent Bridge. It was his first catch on the second day of the match.

As India's latest cricketing celebrity Patel says he has still not got used to fans demanding his autograph. He adds that the pretty girls have not yet materialised, probably because they see him as the school boy that he still is.

"The main thing is playing for India. It is a great feeling and I am feeling very proud of myself. But at the same time I have to be performing for India, so I have to be concentrating on my cricket.

Next March Patel will complete his 12th class examinations and apply to study for a commerce degree at a college in his home town of Ahmedabad.

Born and brought up in Ahmedabad, Patel is by no means the youngest-ever player in an Indian Test side. Laxman Sivaramakrishnan and Sachin Tendulkar were all younger than him when they embarked on their Test careers.

In Patel's case he was nine years old when the cricket bug hit him at summer camp in Ahmedabad.

From then on it was steady progress and he was soon playing for the state's under 14 and under 16 teams. Earlier this year he played in the India A side during the tours of South Africa and Sri Lanka.

Astonishingly there is no history of serious cricket in Patel's family. His father Ajay, a builder, has never had the time to take the sport seriously.

"It is my dad's younger brother Jagat Patel who is the most interested. We all live in the same family home and he supports me."

There are not too many cricketers from Gujarat who have hit the big time in Test cricket Patel says with a twinkle in his eye. Two others he knows of are Jasu Patel and Dhiraj Parsanna. "I am the third one," he announces before applying another ice pack to his knee.