Parthiv Patel is the reported front-runner to become India’s next chief selector. He has now revealed that a national selector once told him to think about going into business. Patel was 27 or 28 at the time and, by his account, was scoring 700 to 800 domestic runs every season.
He told the story on Aakash Chopra’s Baith & Bol podcast, released on 8 October 2026. He did not name the selector, saying only that he was from West Zone. The selector pointed to Patel’s age and his Gujarati background and told him to consider business instead of cricket.
Patel did not take it quietly.
“सेलेक्ट नहीं करना है मत करो… लेकिन आप ऐसे डिसकरेज नहीं कर सकते किसी को… आपके दो साल बाकी है। मैं आपको चैलेंज कर रहा हूं कि ये 2 साल में मैं कम बैक करूंगा।”
“If you don’t want to select me, don’t. But you can’t discourage someone like this… You have two years left. I’m challenging you: I’ll make a comeback in these two years.”
Parthiv Patel, Baith & Bol podcast, 8 October 2026
The BCCI has not yet named Ajit Agarkar’s successor.
The business advice was not the first blow. Years earlier, a public verdict on his keeping did something to a teenager’s hands that no scorecard shows.
Patel made his Test debut at 17 and was dropped by 19. Around then, a former selector working as a news TV pundit compared him to a bald man trying to comb his hair. Patel’s keeping, he said, was just as hopeless. Chopra added on the podcast that the man is a World Cup winner.
Patel said his confidence fell so far that he began to fear the ball. Sitting in a hotel room in Nagpur as the team was picked, he hoped he would be dropped.
Insider Read
A batter in a bad run can hide. He gets out, sits in the dressing room, and nobody sees him again that day. A keeper has no exit. He is on show for every ball of every session, and a fumble is replayed before the next over starts.
Keeping only works when it is automatic: soft hands, eyes on the ball, no thought. Once a line like “he can’t keep” gets inside a young keeper’s head, he starts watching his gloves instead of the ball. His hands stiffen, and catches he used to swallow start bouncing out. Wanting to be dropped is not weakness. It is the only way to stop every delivery from feeling like a test.
From the 2011 Comeback to the RCB Captaincy That Never Came
The waiting had started long before 2011. After scoring 500 runs in five straight first-class innings, Patel asked selector Dilip Vengsarkar what more he could do. He was told it was unfortunate and that he should keep going.
Then the challenge paid off. Patel returned to India’s ODI side in 2011. By his account, he made a fifty as an opener in Bengaluru and an unbeaten fifty in Chennai, and was picked for five ODIs in South Africa.
His IPL career had its own twist. Patel said Ashish Nehra and Gary Kirsten told him to be ready to captain Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
“मुझे बोल दिया था कि तैयार रहो… दिस कैन हैपन नेक्स्ट ईयर।”
“नेक्स्ट ईयर जिसने ऑफर करी थी वही नहीं थे।”“I was told to be ready… this can happen next year.”
“Next year, the people who offered it weren’t there.”Parthiv Patel, Baith & Bol podcast, 8 October 2026
By then, both coaches had been replaced. Patel did not play a single match that season and announced his retirement afterwards.
Patel also said what he believes a selector owes a player. When a player asks why he was left out, the selector must explain, whether the player agrees or not, because the job comes with power. He said he learned this as Gujarat captain, when he had a say in who was dropped.
For now, Pragyan Ojha is handling selection as interim chief selector.
Also Read:
- Parthiv Patel on Allrounders and the Impact Player Rule
- Rajat Patidar Declines Aakash Chopra’s Podcast
- Aakash Chopra: Why Ashwin and Rahane Are Not Eligible for Chief Selector
- Zaheer Khan as India’s Chief Selector
- Ravi Shastri Rules Himself Out as Chief Selector
- Ashwin on the BCCI Rule for Chief Selector
- Ashwin on Agarkar
