Smit Patel, 28, has retired from all forms of international cricket. He has also joined the Barbados Tridents for the upcoming Caribbean Premier League (CPL), starting 28 August at St Kitts and Nevis. As per the BCCI guidelines, an Indian player cannot take part in an overseas league until he retires from domestic cricket and the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Smit will be the only Indian in the CPL 2021 and second overall to be part of the tournament’s history, after Pravin Tambe. Tambe was picked by Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) last year.
Under Unmukt Chand’s captaincy, Smit had been an integral part of India’s Under-19 World Cup campaign in 2012. Chasing 226 against Australia in the final, Smit hit 62 not out in 84 balls to take India past the finishing line. Alongside Unmukt (111 not out off 130), he forged an unbeaten 130-run partnership for the fifth wicket to ensure India lift the trophy.
In the domestic arena, Smit began his career with Gujarat before moving to Tripura and Baroda, representing them in 55 First-class matches, 43 List A matches, and 28 T20s. He featured in the 2020/21 Syed Mushtaq T20 Trophy earlier this year. Recently, he has played few practice matches of Major League Cricket (MLC) in the USA. In fact, he has been drafted to Tridents as an MLC player.
In the CPL, Smit will be playing alongside the likes of Jason Holder, Chris Morris, Thisara Perera, Mohammad Amir, and Shai Hope. Although Hope has been Tridents’ first-choice ‘keeper, it will be interesting to see if Smit gets his maiden call-up in the tournament.