TKR profile: Samit Patel back for CPL's business end

English all-rounder Samit Patel makes a welcome return to his former Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League T20 franchise, Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR), for the remaining stages of the 2023 tournament.

Patel replaced compatriot Tom Curran after the latter featured once in ten matches for TKR, owing to an injury.

The 38-year old Patel is a left-arm spinner and right-handed batsman.

He played in TKR colours at last year’s CPLT20 and also represented St Lucia Kings in 2021. Patel has 6,366 runs at 24.96 in 390 T20 matches, with 332 wickets at 25.91.

The Englishman brings a boost for the Knights to have such an experienced campaigner like him in the squad as they move into the final stages of this season.

Just over a week ago, Patel left County Championship cricket club Nottinghamshire after more than two decades there. Despite turning 39 in November, Patel brings a wealth of experience to the TKR set-up for this final CPLT20 stage.

His highest T20 score is 90 not out.

Patel is also one of two new faces to the squad for the remaining games, since Irishman Lorcan Tucker, who made a good impression with the bat this year, also departed for international duty. Joining Patel is middle-order batsman Keacy Carty, from St Maarten.

Patel’s presence bolsters TKR’s spin-bowling attack, which comprises off-break specialist Sunil Narine, leg-spinner Akeal Hosein, Afghan leftie Waqar Salamkheil and unused off-break spinner Mark Deyal.

Patel battled for several years with fitness issues for English national team selection and was more often than not included in the provisional squad, and rarely selected for the final 11.

For England, Patel made his One Day International debut in August 2008, but was later dropped from the side after failing to meet fitness levels. After a two-and-a-half-year absence, he returned to the ODI side in 2011 and made his T20 International debut before earning his first Test cap on the tour of Sri Lanka in 2012.

He’s shone brightly for Nottinghamshire over the past 20 years and has featured in multiple T20 franchise tournament around the globe inclusive of Euro T20 Slam, 2020 Vitality Blast, Lanka Premier League and CPLT20.

In June 2021, during the 2021 T20 Blast, Patel became the first English player to do the double in T20 cricket of taking 250 wickets and scoring 5,000 runs.

TKR have already qualified for the playoff rounds and play their final preliminary match against Guyana Amazon Warriors today,
at Providence Stadium in Guyana, from 7pm.