IPL 2021 | Slower balls have been my biggest strength for 10 years now, admits Harshal Patel
Following an instant success on his RCB return, Harshal Patel has admitted that slower deliveries have been his biggest strength for almost ten years now. While stating that he had great clarity over his role, Harshal insisted that it was key for him to practise his yorkers in the training sessions.
While RCB fixed their middle-order dilemma in the IPL Auction, with the release of Chris Morris, their death-over bowling was still questionable. However, it intensified when Virat Kohli announced the playing XI, with Harshal Patel getting the nod ahead of Navdeep Saini. While Saini was earmarked as RCB’s death-over specialist, his dip in form and the conditions had the odds stacked against him.
After RCB’s great start with the ball, Harshal was handed the responsibility of bowling three overs in the death, an area of grave concern for the franchise. However, on his return, the all-rounder ensured no hiccups in the area, picking up a fifer in the death overs, the first against Mumbai. The all-rounder, in the post-match press conference, stressed the importance of slower deliveries, adding that it has been his biggest strength in the past 10 years.
“Conditions suited my style of bowling and that’s why Virat left my three overs in the death. As the ball got older, it started reversing and when it reverses, it is easier to execute the yorkers. My slower deliveries have been my biggest strength for almost 10 years now and yorker is something that I’m working on,” said Harshal in the post-match press conference.
The Haryana skipper, who earlier was part of the Delhi setup, was traded by the franchise to RCB. Harshal also admitted that the franchise was clear in their instructions and had already told him what his role in the franchise was going to be after his trade.
“So when I was traded, RCB told me what role I would be playing in the team and was given clear instructions on bowling in the death overs. That gave me a lot of clarity and allowed me to develop my skills to tackle the situation. Clarity was given to me very early and that helped me preparations immensely.”
While he has been working on his yorkers in the past, the all-rounder ceded that lack of wickets led to people not noticing his variations. However, it didn’t demotivate him, with Harshal putting himself under pressure situations in the training sessions.
“Been bowling the yorkers for two years now, it is when you don’t get wickets, people don’t see that you have variations but when you get wickets, people notice that. I was bowling yorkers but I wasn’t confident of taking that to the game but in the last 15-20 days, I have been putting myself in situations where I have to land those yorkers perfectly, which helped me.”