Born November 2, 2008, at Nadiad City in India’s Gujarat State, Dharm
Patel migrated to Canada with the rest of his family when he was just
three years old. Not that long after, at five years to be exact and as
an eight-year-old, he started developing an interest in cricket directly
as an outcome of watching televised matches at home along with his
father, Dipak and other family members.
Dharm’s newfound interest very quickly grew into a bit of an obsession, fueled as
it was by his vivid fantasies of playing cricket and accomplishing noteworthy
achievements while doing so. He duly informed his parents of his raging desire
to play cricket, even though there weren’t any bats or other gears in the house
at the time. As IT professionals both of Dharm’s parents were fans of cricket
but not in any manner actively involved in the game.
In unhesitatingly full support of his son’s expressed wishes, however, Dipak
immediately started making inquiries in relation to finding a good Cricket
Academy for Dharm to attend. Recommendations for the Ontario Cricket
Academy (OCA) were the very best that he received. And so it was that at
the tender age of eight, Dharm joined OCA to play cricket while learning the
fundamentals of the sport.
Just as quickly as he’d joined the OCA, Dharm was being introduced to the
proper methods of gripping his bat and taking stance at the crease. The Coach
who instructed him on how to do so was none other
than the South African-born, now former Canadian
National Men’s Team captain and wicket-keeper
batsman, Davy Jacobs. With Dharm’s chosen role
being that of an opening batsman and wicketkeeper,
it was a most appropriate, albeit somewhat uncanny,
association between the highly acclaimed Jacobs and
his aspiring prodigy.
As evidenced by his choice of watching India’s
greatest-ever batsman, Sachin Tendulkar as his
role model and admitting to the influence that the
maestro has already had on his game, Dharm’s very
lofty and admirable ambitions toward his personal
achievement of cricketing greatness couldn’t have
been made any more crystal clear. Toward that end,
he started learning his cricket at the OCA under the
watchful guidance of Head Coach Derek Perera and
his Assistant Trib Jagessar.
Fondly known as Coach Jaggy by all OCA attendees and
Club Members, Trib has worked on and contributed
lots of time and efforts to develop Dharm’s basic
techniques, while Coach Derek continues working
on developing the youngster’s advanced
cricketing skills. Ever supportive of
their son’s ambitions both of Dharm’s parents Mom
(Shital) and Dad (Dipak) have
been dedicating lots of their time
attending his practices and matches.
In addition to fulfilling the fundamental
requirements of his roles as a batsman
and wicketkeeper, Dharm’s stated goal is to
go even further in becoming “the world’s most
explosive and entertaining batsman. One who can
provide valuable entertainment returns to spectators
for every dollar spent on their purchased match tickets!”
Highly admirable ambitions those for someone who now at
only thirteen years of age is still so very young!
As young as he may be, Dharm has already started working very hard
to improve his cricket skills. He is always eager to learn new skills and to
strengthen them by continuous practising. He has also already started taking
care of his diet and exercise, processes which he began as far back as when he was
just at the age of ten.
Dharm’s dedicated efforts have already started to produce the desired results. He’s notched back-to-back
centuries for the OCA in TDCA matches and helped his team to win the League’s U12 Championships. He also
currently holds the record (165) for the Highest Individual Score by an U14 batsman.
In 36 TDCA T20 matches played to date, Dharm Patel has scored 941 runs from 31 innings batted for an average of 39.21 and
at a strike rate of 110.9. He’s also recorded 3 centuries and 6 half-centuries.
Dharm’s TDCA One Day record is equally as impressive. 30 innings batted in 32 matches played. 913 runs scored at an
average of 39.70 and at an even higher strike rate of 128.59. 2 centuries and 6 half-centuries included.
As focused as he’s become, Dharm now also makes a conscious effort to stay away from electronic gadgets. With
such clarity of vision and purpose the future development of Dharm Patel’s cricket career and the extent to
which he can indeed fulfil his very admirable and lofty ambitions will definitely be One To Watch!