Harshal Patel made headlines with his stunning bowling spell in the recently suspended 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He was the highest wicket-taker of the league and returned with 17 wickets in 7 matches which came at an average of 15.11 and strike rate of 9.88 as well while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). His wicket-taking ability helped the side do well in the tournament as well.
He is currently in America with this family and opened up on the challenges while playing cricket during the tough times of COVID-19 as well as tough quarantines too. He shared that the IPL is the most competitive T20 league in the world right now and he also added that it was not easy for him to come out of isolation and perform well the way he did. However, the RCB pacer gave credit to his past experience of playing professional cricket for his mental toughness and temperament during the league as well.
“I think as I have played 10 years of professional cricket and that has helped me a lot.. I last played top-notch cricket in the IPL in the UAE in October and then twisted my ankle thus I missed the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. I came back straight away into the 2021 IPL – my first match was against the Mumbai Indians. There was no competitive cricket for a period of 5 months so it was definitely a big challenge. You cannot replace the intensity of a match however hard and long you practice,” quoted Harshal Patel.
He also added that the main challenge for him was to overcome the physical rustiness after playing such a long break as well due to COVID-19. However, he again shared that it wasn’t difficult for him to manage the mental aspect as he has played for 10 years in domestic cricket as well.
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“Mentally it is not that difficult for me as I have 10 years of experience. I have already faced two to three long layoffs due to injuries. The important thing is to slowly get your rhythm back and not rush into things. There is pressure to make an impact immediately to make up for lost time but you have to give yourself and your body time to get back into the groove,” Patel shared. “Currently I am in America where there is no cricket. I still play alone with the bat and the ball in the backyard as I miss playing the game. I am a professional and any athlete will miss performing in competitive cricket.”
Meanwhile, Harhal Patel has also opened up about the importance of slower deliveries in limited-overs cricket where he claimed that in the era of T20 cricket, bowlers need to change their strategies to take wickets because of smaller grounds, fearless batsmen and high strike rates as well.
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“The slower delivery is very important at the international and IPL level. The white ball just hurries to the boundary on good batting tracks in the IPL and the batsmen are fearless these days. They attack from the very first ball of the match. No one takes time to settle in as before. Thus, I have to change the pace and bowl the slower ones to break the flow. I have a number of variations which include the off cutter, a slower full-toss which is actually yorker length and another slower delivery with a quick-arm action. I get many wickets with these slower deliveries,” Concluded Harshal Patel.
