Patel cannot prove his US residency.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Indian American player Nisarg Patel, who represents the U.S. cricket team, was declared ineligible on Tuesday by the ICC from taking any part in the ICC Americas Division One T20 tournament in Indianapolis.
A USACA official informed ESPN not enough documentation was provided to the ICC to prove that Patel had been in the U.S. the required 183 days per year for the four years immediately preceding the start of the tournament.
Born in India, the 27-year-old Patel has permanent residency status in the U.S. and U.K. citizenship, but per the USACA official, Patel only was able to demonstrate dates of U.S. entry and exit from a U.K. passport issued in 2014 and an Indian passport which had expired in 2007. It meant they could not prove his dates of U.S. entry and exit from 2011 through 2014 in order to prove his eligibility.
The all-rounder had spent his teenage years living in Southern California, reported ESPN, but he accepted a job at a U.S. multi-national corporation in the United Kingdom after graduating from university and spent several years playing premier league cricket in Middlesex and Essex from 2011-2014 before returning to California last summer.
According to ESPN, Patel made an immediate impact on his return to the U.S. domestic scene and was named 2014 USACA National Tournament MVP last August and was second in runs at the most recent USACA National Tournament in April. While he has yet to make his senior team debut he has previously represented USA at the 2006 ICC U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka.
ESPN’s sources indicated Patel will stay with the team in Indianapolis as both he and USACA officials attempt to have the missing documentation couriered to Indianapolis so that he might be eligible to be reinstated and play in the final three matches of the tournament.