Harshal Patel, despite being part of the IPL for quite some time, had to wait until IPL 2021, when his fate shined and ended up winning the Purple Cap with a record-equaling 32 wickets for the RCB side. At the IPL 2022 mega auction two months ago, the high of last year's IPL got him a price tag of 10.75 crores, paving the route for his India cap.
But, there was a time when things weren't so perfect. Harshal had not done much with RCB during his first tenure, playing 36 matches and taking 34 wickets in that time.
In fact, Harshal was sent home in the middle of the IPL 2017 season, a narrative he told in a free-flowing interview with actor and presenter Gaurav Kapur on his popular YouTube show 'Breakfast with Champions.'
"I played 5 games in 2016 and then didn't play anything after that. 2017 again same situation. I was even sent home once. This used to happen a lot earlier because if you’re keeping a player, there's his hotel room, daily allowances, you've to take him to practice, book his flight tickets. I vividly remember what happened. Avinash Vaidya called me in the room and he said 'Dan (Vettori) (the former coach) wants to talk to you. And we were staying at Ritz-Carlton. So he called me to the breakfast area and told me 'We don't see you playing for at least 4-5 more games so we're sending you home. But we'll call you back. It was the epitome of rejection, that you aren't even in the team," Harshal said.
Harshal made one last-ditch effort when everything seemed to be going wrong for him. After RCB was eliminated from contention for the playoffs, Harshal returned for the team's final league match of the season and took 3/43, guiding RCB to a 10-run victory over Delhi Capitals.
"Then I think after 4-5 games, RCB was knocked out, we were not going to qualify. So I messaged Vettori saying 'Give me a game'. That was the first time I actually sold myself to anyone. They called me for the last game and we were playing Delhi at Kotla. The first over I bowled went for some 14-15 runs and then the nerves settled. I said ‘Already been hit for 15 runs, how much worse can it get?'. Then I ended up picking three wickets and won the game for the team. I was Player of the Match in that game. And then next year was the 2018 auction," recalled Harshal.
