Good Sports: CRICKETER SELECTED IN BASEBALL DRAFT
In the seventh round of the recent Major League Baseball draft, the Chicago White Sox selected a former member of the United States’ under-19 cricket team.
Karan Patel, 22, both a bowler and batsman, grew up playing cricket in the Houston area, as the son of Kuldeep Patel, a former member of the U.S. national cricket team.
Karan also played baseball, becoming a standout pitcher at University of Texas-San Antonio. In 2019, he posted a 2.84 ERA and struck out 104 batters in 92 innings, becoming the first pitcher in the 28-year history of the school’s baseball program to record 100 strikeouts in a season.
Though bowling and pitching have different techniques, Karan believes that playing cricket has benefited his baseball career.
“It helps my arm slot and my ability to spin the ball,” he told MLB.com. “And I mean, I got into better shape over the last two years. I just slowly figured out who I am and what kind of pitcher I was. Not doing stuff outside of what I can do.”
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? We would love to hear from you about Chai Time. If you have contributions, please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]
Enjoyed reading Khabar magazine? Subscribe to Khabar and get a full digital copy of this Indian-American community magazine.
