“He is not someone who's going to muscle you” - Harshal Patel on the challenge of bowling a slower ball to Virat Kohli
Team India pacer Harshal Patel has admitted that bowling a slower ball to Virat Kohli is very different from varying the pace against big hitters. He explained that adapting to various batters is key for the slower ball to be effective.
Harshal, 31, is regarded as one of the finest exponents of slower delivery in modern times. He has foxed a number of batters with his variations in the IPL as well as in international cricket.
In an interview with ESPNcricinfo’s The Cricket Monthly, the right-arm pacer opened up on the challenges of bowling the slower ones to different batters.
Asked if he has to plan in a specific manner while bowling to someone like Kohli, Harshal admitted:
“To Virat, for sure, because he is not someone who's going to muscle you. These slower deliveries are more effective when people are trying to muscle you. For someone like Virat, whenever I've played against him, he steps out and makes it a full toss and plays it through midwicket.
"If he gets good bat on the ball, he is going to get a boundary between long-on and midwicket or he is going to get a double. And when someone plays that delivery like that, you have to adapt."
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On what changes when he bowls to a big hitter, Harshal explained:
“When someone is going deep in the crease and just trying to slog you over long-on or deep midwicket or down the ground, that's where the slower ball becomes much more effective."
The pace bowler is currently with the Indian team in Australia as they prepare for the T20 World Cup. He is part of the 15-member squad chosen for the ICC event.
“You don't have to be conventional all the time” - Harshal Patel
While Harshal’s slower ones have been effective without a doubt, there has been some criticism that he has been making overuse of the variation. The 31-year-old, though, feels that it is not important to bowl conventionally to taste success.
Sharing his thoughts, he elaborated:
“I have played on turning pitches where I have gone around the wicket to left-handers and bowled very fast offcutters and have, like, silly point and a couple of slips and got wickets. I really believe that you don't have to be conventional all the time.
“At the end of the day, it's about getting the work done. If I'm bowling 24 slower balls, conceding 30 runs and taking two wickets, who's to say that it is not a good thing? And if I'm bowling 150kph and conceding 50 runs every game, which is better? The captain will obviously pick the more effective one.”
Ever since returning from a side strain, Harshal has struggled for rhythm in his bowling. He went for 45 and 49 runs in the second and third T20Is against South Africa.
Harshal Patel in T20Is where India have conceded 170+ totals
9 inngs
6 wkts
ER 11.50
SR 34.0
Only in one of these nine matches he has bowled the full quota of overs and gone at under 10 per over.
The pacer also registered expensive figures of one for 49 in the T20 World Cup practice match against Western Australia in Perth on Monday, October 10.