IPL 2021: " I finally found a recipe that works for me" - RCB pacer Harshal Patel reacts after a stellar season
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) cricketer Harshal Patel ended IPL 2021 as the highest wicket-taker in the competition with 32 scalps under his belt. Patel is likely to hold that spot by himself unless Avesh Khan picks up an unlikely nine wickets or more in the remainder of the season.
When RCB traded Patel from Delhi, it looked like another poor call from the management. But the Haryana captain turned the tables right from the beginning. Harshal Patel picked up wickets almost every time RCB skipper Virat Kohli threw the ball to him.
Although RCB's tournament came to a premature end, losing to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Eliminator, Patel was happy in terms of his personal achievement. In a video uploaded by RCB after the game, the seamer said:
"It feels great in terms of my personal achievement and whatever work I had put in for 5-6 years. I finally found a recipe that works for me. I am very proud of myself for putting in the performances that I have in very difficult situations at times."
He added:
"Looking back at the season, a few bad games in between, concerning 37 runs in an over and bowling in death overs again and winning the game for the team. That was something that gave me a lot of satisfaction. It has been a dream of a season. If you had told me at the beginning of the season that you're gonna get 32 wickets in 15 games, I would have said I don't believe you. But that's the nature of progress, I guess."
Harshal Patel finished his IPL 2021 campaign with 32 scalps, joint-most in a single campaign alongside Dwayne Bravo, who also picked up 32 wickets during the 2013 season. He was spectacular in the death overs and 1/3rd of his total wickets for RCB in IPL 2021 came in the 20th over itself.
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"I couldn't be more grateful for this management and Virat [Kohli]" - Harshal Patel
Harshal Patel, who has had an on and off IPL career so far, conceded that the trust shown by the RCB management and captain Virat Kohli boosted his confidence. The 30-year-old said:
"I couldn't be more grateful for this management and Virat. My IPL career was sort if on and off for the last 10 seasons. The only season where I played consistently was in 2015. So this happened 6 years of being on the sidelines and playing 1 or 2 games in a season and not being able to showcase my ability. That was hard to take at times, but they also told me that I need to put in the work and wait for my turn."
"But when they traded me and gave me this responsibility of bowling in the death overs, it sort of gave me that confidence that this is the time for me to showcase the skills that I have gathered in all these years," Harshal Patel further added.
After a breathtaking season with the ball for RCB, Harshal Patel is likely to stay with the Men in Blue as a net bowler as Virat Kohli & co gear up for the 2021 T20 World Cup challenge.