Imtiaz Patel grew up in Schweizer Reneke in the North-West Province of South Africa. He studied education and was a teacher for four years in Soweto where he was also involved in developing cricket. He rose steadily through the ranks of the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) to become the director of professional cricket. Patel looked a shoo-in to succeed Ali Bacher as the CEO, but fled the coop when Gerald Majola succeeded Bacher instead, joining Supersport in 1999. "He is steeped in cricket, and he is passionate about the game," Bacher said. "He has energy and enthusiasm for cricket, and he comes with no cricket baggage. He comes in fresh." He was appointed chief executive of SuperSport, and in 2008 he was headhunted to replace Malcolm Speed as CEO of the ICC, a post he turned down in spite of the ICC's confidence in him. "While he always exudes polite charm in public, Patel is known to have a scathing tongue in the privacy of the boardroom and even hardened former cricketers who work as commentators for SuperSport are known to slink into the corners when he lets fly," Ken Borland noted.
Martin Williamson