Munaf Patel Biography

Last Updated – 11 July 2019

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Munaf Patel: Talented but Inconsistent Bowler

Consistency is an art which is difficult to maintain. Sports is not an exception. In sports, regular performers always succeed. Good players always try to improve their game and remove the weak points. They must sweat a lot, remain injury free and maintain discipline on/off the ground.

But inconsistency of a player in any game won’t be good enough to fetch success in the long run. From the last one and half decades, many fast bowlers from India were included in the national team with a lot of hue and cry. Irfan Patel, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, and RP Singh, to name a few, all started their career on a high note, but failed to stabilise their position in the team due to inconsistency and lacklustre performances.

Munaf Patel was a talented and budding young Indian Test cricketer. His full name is Munaf Musa Patel and he was born on July 12, 1983 in Ikhar, Gujarat. Despite his family’s objection to cricket, Munaf pursued it with steadfastness to become a significant member of Team India’s pace attack. Munaf Patel was a promising right arm fest-medium bowler, noted for his devastating pace, late swing, reverse swing and deadly yorkers. He bowled regularly at speeds of over 87 mph, even reaching the 90 mph mark, making him the fastest bowler in Indian cricket. He was also a capable right-hand batsman. Munaf had sharpened his bowling skills at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai, under the guidance of legends Dennis Lillee and TA Sekhar.

After his transfer deal to Mumbai began his impressive first-class cricket career. Although his injuries hampered his early career, he tried improving his weaknesses, even visiting the Australian Institute of Sport for bio-mechanical analysis on his bowling action, to improve its efficiency. With noteworthy performances in his debut for India A against New Zealand and the Board President’s XI against England, he made the national selectors take note of him and he was selected into the Indian team.

Munaf Patel made his Test debut against England at Mohali in March 2006. Since then, Patel played in 13 Tests, taking 35 wickets overall. His One Day International debut came against England at Margao, in April 2006. He played in 70 ODI’s, taking 86 wickets at an average of 30.27, with an ODI career best haul of 4/29.

He also performed well in the 2005/06 Test Series against West Indies, the DLF Cup in Malaysia against Australia, and the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy against England with impressive figures of 3/18, eventually winning the match for India, as well as receiving the Man of the Match Award.

Munaf Patel was included in the 2011 World Cup winning squad. He bowled well and kept the batsman tight. Although he failed to take any wicket in the final, yet he bowled on accurate line and length and did not allow the Islander to score freely. His overall performance in 2011 World Cup was satisfactory. Ultimately the men in blue emerged champion after 28 years, possible in large part due to team efforts.

Munaf was also seen in some editions of IPL. Initially he played for Rajasthan Royals, then he switched to Mumbai Indians. His fielding and batting were shabby. All round capability is essential for keeping one’s place in the team. Gradually his bowling form started deteriorating and failed to make any significant contribution in the domestic circuit. So he failed to find a buyer in the player auction in 2014 edition of IPL. Subsequently, he announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, which was a wise decision.