Former India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel will bank on his willow firing in an attempt to impress the national selectors in the Duleep Trophy final between East and West zones, beginning in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
Parthiv, who was dumped from the national squad during the series against Australia last year after some not-too-good performances, felt though his showing behind the stumps has improved, only good batting will help him get back into the reckoning for the Test series against Sri Lanka.
"My performance behind the stumps has constantly been improving. In the last two Duleep Trophy matches against South (in Vadodara) and Central Zone (in Aurangabad) I managed to scalp a total of 13 victims.
"In the match against South Zone in Vadodara, I was instrumental in bringing about five dismissals in one innings," he said, adding his performance helped the team register outright victories in the Duleep tie.
"My performance behind the stumps (at Vadodara) went completely unnoticed," he said, adding he also cracked a half-century in one of the Duleep Trophy innings, against South Zone.
"I did not bat well against Central Zone in Aurangabad, but impressed with the gloves.
"How many people remember how many catches you took behind the stumps?" he asked.
"Now I feel that I have to bat well and make a big score in order to grab attention."
Parthiv had intensive batting practice during the nets on Thursday evening at the Sardar Patel stadium.
However, he said that he is not thinking too much about getting selected to the national team.
"I am not going to burden myself by thinking about getting selected into the team. I am going to concentrate on my performance and selection will automatically happen," he said.
The former India wicketkeepr insisted that he is not under any pressure after the good showing of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is also vying for the Test keeper's slot, which is currently with young Dinesh Karthik.
"They are concentrating on their performance and I should concentrate on mine," Parthiv said. "With such performances (Dhoni's innings against Sri Lanka in the one-day series) the bar for wicketkeepers in the Indian squad has gone up," he added.
West Zone coach Balvinder Singh Sandhu also had a word of praise for him.
"He is keeping well these days," he said. "His (ball) collection has improved and he also batted well against South," Sandhu said, adding "Parthiv is maturing as a wicketkeeper."
