Royal Challengers Bangalore medium pacer Harshal Patel had a stellar season as he delivered the goods for the team.
Patel scalped 32 wickets in 15 matches at an impressive average of 14.34 and conceded his runs at an economy rate of 8.14.
The right-arm medium pacer made great use of the slower balls to bamboozle the opposition batters. Patel was also given the responsibility by the RCB team management to bowl in the death overs and he was able to nail the yorkers.
Patel also bagged a hat-trick against Mumbai Indians and became only the third RCB bowler to take three wickets in a row for RCB. Patel’s 32 wickets in a season are the joint-most in an edition as he leveled with Dwayne Bravo’s record.
In fact, Patel could have broken Bravo’s record had Devdutt Padikkal not dropped Sunil Narine’s catch.
Patel finished with impressive figures of 2-18 of his four overs but RCB lost by four wickets, which ended their run in IPL 2021. There is no doubt that Harshal must have grown in confidence after such an impressive run in the tournament and he will look to keep improving his skills.
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.”
Patel gave his gratitude to the team’s think tank as well as Virat Kohli for giving him the opportunity at the big stage and backing him throughout the tournament.
“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.”
