Indian fast bowler Harshal Patel said that he never felt at any moment that his dream of representing the country was sort of running away from him, as he finally made his international debut late, just four months shy of turning 31, in the second T20I against New Zealand in Ranchi.
Patel earned his maiden India call-up for the ongoing three-match T20I series against New Zealand on the strength of stellar performances in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021). He was the leading wicket-taker with 32 wickets in 15 matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the IPL 2021.
He managed to carry his stunning IPL 14 form to his maiden game for India, as the RCB pacer returned with impressive figures of 2/25 to help India beat New Zealand by 7 wickets in the second T20I to take a 2-0 lead in the ongoing T20I series on Friday (November 19) in Ranchi.
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Following his dream debut, Patel said that he was driven constantly to get better and actualize his true potential and that it is now paying him off both in domestic cricket and the IPL, and now for Team India.
Harshal said in the post-match virtual media conference: “I knew that I could play at the highest level. I could do well at the highest level with the ball and with the bat as well. I was driven constantly to get better and actualize that potential. I never at any moment felt that the dream is sort of running away from me.”
After he failed to find a place in his home state of Gujarat, Patel then shifted to Haryana and began his journey in the Ranji Trophy 2011-12 season, where he snared 28 wickets. The pacer said he realized his limitations after the grind of domestic cricket and worked on his true potential.
Notably, Harshal was seen using the crease well, creating angles and also being smart with his slower ball in the IPL 2021, and it helped him a lot, as he finished as the joint highest wicket-taker with 32 scalps.
He added, “Being a fast bowler you want to bowl fast. But then I realized that my speed ceiling is probably at 135kph and if I'm really in very good rhythm I can probably clock close to 140. But I will never be able to hold consistently at higher than 140. So that's something I realized and then I started working on other things, other skills that I needed to do well at this level.”
Harshal further revealed that he worked on his angles to become a skillful bowler at domestic cricket once he realized he had a massive lateral flexion.
The bowler further explained, “I don't have a bio mechanically perfect action. I have a massive lateral flexion at the point of delivery, so I always wanted to correct that because we are told that you know you're more injury-prone if you don't correct that. Also, the height of your delivery also gets reduced if you have a lateral flexion and you won't get a lot of mounts and all those things.
But what I realized after playing seven-eight years of domestic cricket is that lateral flexion gave me an angle that was difficult for the batters to line up to. That made my slow balls more effective. If I talk about red-ball cricket, that big angle into the batsman allows me to bowl outswingers from a very tight line and beat the batters when it straightens. I started looking at that as an advantage.”
The 30-year-old further said that he worked hard to convert his weaknesses into his strengths. Patel added, “Angles have always been a big part of my game and I use them to good effect. I think that's another thing I realized that I can add to my repertoire without trying too many different things.”
He signed off by saying, “So I bowl yorkers from close to the stumps, some from the corner of the crease, and that has a massive impact on where the ball lands and where the batsman plays the ball. It's a massive advantage and a massive weapon for me.”
(With PTI Inputs)
