Brijesh Patel (born March 28, 1953) grew up in Bangalore is an
Indian cricketer who played for the
Indian national cricket team as a right-handed
batsman from 1974 until 1979.
Patel played in 21
test matches from 1974 to 1977, and sustained a
batting average of 29.45. He was also a bowler, but was never asked to deliver his right-arm
off breaks for his national team. His highest test score was 115
not out.
While his international cricketing career was not particularly productive, he made 37 hundreds and over 11000 runs in
first class cricket. His international career came to a premature end because of his suspect technique against genuine pace. At the time of his retirement, he held the
Ranji Trophy records (since bettered) for most runs and hundreds. His talent first became evident as a student in
Bishop Cotton Boys School,
Bangalore, and he represented his country in a junior team that travelled to
Australia. Throughout his career, he represented
Karnataka state and captained the team to many victories. He and fellow international
Gundappa Vishwanath formed a formidable batting pair.
He was regarded as an excellent fielder normally covering areas around cover and point.
After his playing days he became cricket administrator.
A Jagmohan Dalmiya (past President of the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI)) supporter, Patel was appointed the Director of the
National Cricket Academy in India until he was replaced in 2005 by another ex-Test cricketer, Shivlal Yadav, the current director of...
Read More