Samit Patel accuses ECB of handling his fitness poorly

Samit Patel did not enjoy a long and successful career with the England side. Even though he made his international debut for England more than 9 years ago, the left-arm spinner has featured in only 6 Tests, 36 ODIs and 18 T20Is in his career.

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In fact, the last time that Patel played an international match in an England jersey was in November 2015. England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Director, Hugh Morris stated that even though Patel is a talented cricketer, his fitness has not been up to the mark.

“Samit Patel is a talented cricketer but he, like every other player who joins the senior England team, must be aware of the strict fitness criteria that will be set,” said Morris about Patel.

And now, Patel has opened up on the matter. The England cricketer stated that he was made the scapegoat by the ECB, and added that they dealt with him in a poor way. Patel also revealed that he has now learned to live through it.

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“No, it just got chucked out there which I was pretty disappointed about. In my opinion, handled poorly by the ECB. not entirely their fault but if you put it now, things would be handled way differently by the ECB and captains and coaches. Maybe a little bit of a scapegoat, first up, but you live and you learn with this kind of stuff,” said Patel in a chat with Cricket Life Stories.

The England all-rounder further stated that the period when Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower worked with each other in the England side was a cross over period.

“We went through a period where we were losing and Straussy came in and wanted different standards with Flower. It was that crossover period where people need to make some kind of statement and stamp their authority in different roles and I copped it for that,” concluded Patel.