"Built A Big House By Carrying Water": Ex-India Star On His World Cup Role

Former India wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel made a funny remark during his recent appearance on a comedy show. When water became the topic of discussion during the interaction, Parthiv joked that he built a "big house" by carrying water during the entire 2003 World Cup. The player made his India debut in 2002 and was picked for the world event that was jointly hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. While Parthiv was part of the squad, he failed to get any game as Rahul Dravid played in the role of wicketkeeper-batter for India during the tournament. India lost to Australia by 125 runs in the summit clash.

"Don't talk about water, I have carried water for 85 ODIs. I used to carry drinks when Rahul Dravid used to keep wickets. I just gave water during the entire 2003 World Cup, but I built a big house by carrying water at the time," joked Parthiv on 'The Lavari Show' of 'The Comedy Factory', as quoted by Sportskeeda.

Parthiv made his international debut at a very young age during India's Test series in England. He became the youngest wicketkeeper ever (17 years and 152 days) in Test history. Recalling his first outing, the Ahmedabad-born revealed that former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff sledged him, but he couldn't understand what was said to him as he studied in a Gujarati medium school.

"I had an advantage. When you are 17 and have studied in a Gujarati medium school, how will you understand what Andrew Flintoff is saying?" he said.

Parthiv played his final India match against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2018. He announced his retirement from all formats of the game in December 2020. Hailed as "a brilliant ambassador for Indian cricket" by ex-BCCI president and former India captain Sourav Ganguly, the wicketkeeper-batter represented India in 25 Tests, 38 ODIs, and two T20Is.

Parthiv scored 934 runs at an average of 31.13 in the longest format of the game. In ODIs, he scored 736 at an average of 23.74.

The wicketkeeper-batter played 139 Indian Premier League matches and scored 2,848 runs at an average of 22.60. His last season was IPL 2019. Parthiv was a part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (now Royal Challengers Bengaluru) squad in the 2020 season but did not get a game.

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