Parthiv Ajay Patel born March 9, 1985 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat is an Indian cricketer (wicketkeeper-batsman) and former member of the Indian national cricket team. He is a left-handed batsman and is of a very short stature at 160cm. Patel started playing cricket for his school in 1996, moulding his style of Ian Healy and Adam Gilchrist, he was selected for Gujarat U-14s in 1998. Patel first caught the eyes of cricket journalists in December 2000 when playing for Gujarat U-16s in the West Zone league against Maharashtra, when as a wicket-keeper and an opening batsman he scored centuries in both innings of the match, with 101 (of 196) and 201 not out (of 297) after being forced to follow on to save the match. He was subsequently named as the captain of West Zone U-19s at the age of 15, leading them in a match against the England U-19s.