 As of 2018 he is the Second XI coach at Kent.Born in Bombay (now called Mumbai), and educated in England at Dartford Grammar School and later Manchester Polytechnic, Patel's first-class cricket debut for Kent came at the end of the 1989 English cricket season, in a match against Middlesex.He became a regular in the Kent side over the following seasons, and in 1994 and 1995 "took wickets for fun"; indeed in 1994 he was the leading wicket-taker in England with 90 at a bowling average of 22.86.