Harshal Patel has gone from strength to strength over the last few years. With consistent performances in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the 31-year-old has become a consistent feature in the Indian T20I team. With the 2022 T20 World Cup just around the corner and Jasprit Bumrah ruled out due to injury, all eyes will be on Harshal. He has been known as a bowler who can consistely bowl the slower ball to fox the batters. In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Harshal revealed various facets of bowling a slower delivery and how he would use it differently against Virat Kohli.
“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,” Harshal said.
“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. But 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.”
Promoted
Harshal is part of India’s mamin squad for The T20 World Cup. India start their campaign against Pakistan in Melbourne on October 23.
India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh. Standby players – Mohd. Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar.
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