Royal Challengers Bangalore registered a convincing win over Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator in Kolkata. While Rajat Patidar smashed a ton, Harshal Patel did well with the ball.
Follow Us
Royal Challengers Bangalore registered a convincing win over Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator in Kolkata. While Rajat Patidar smashed a ton, Harshal Patel did well with the ball. Notably, Patidar had smashed only 71 runs in IPL 2021 and remained unsold in the IPL auction. However, it was only when Luvnith Sisodia got injured that RCB decided to replace him with Patidar as well. And, Harshal praised the batter and said that when he came as a replacement, he looked ‘determined’ to turn the table and make an impact for the franchise as well.
“The way he played, I don’t need to say anything about that, we have been seeing this calibre of batting in practice games. Even last year when he was with us, he got a few opportunities but couldn’t do justice to his talent, but we knew he was a special player,” Harshal Patel said in the post-match presser. “And even when he came in as a replacement this year, he looked very determined. He is kind of an introvert and goes about his business quietly but we knew the kind of contributions he can make for the team. Exceptionally proud of Rajat… all of us in the team, hopefully he can play a couple more knocks like this.”
Harshal Patel, however, had to overcome a tricky situation in the slog overs. In the 18th over, he gave away six wides (it included five wides off one ball) too. And, he decided to bang it short and mix up his pace to keep the runs in check as well. LSG could add only two more to their total in that over and Marcus Stoinis got out too.
“First of all, yes, I was nervous, there is no doubt about that. If you are defending 34 off 18 balls, then you’re going to be nervous around it, but I knew when I gave away six runs without bowling a ball… gave away those wides, I knew that the wide yorker won’t work. So I thought what worked for me in the first two overs, I want to go back to that and give myself the best opportunity to get KL (Rahul) and Stoinis out. Fortunately, I got Stoinis out at the boundary. Whenever in their bowling when they bowled short or slower balls, it wasn’t coming nicely on to the bat, so that was a clue that I want to bowl short and into the pitch… slow as I can. And then mix it up with a good yorker, good hard length ball. But I knew that the majority of my deliveries would be slower balls on this sort of a wicket, because as soon as you gave pace, the wicket made it easy to hit,” he added.
READ MORE: IPL 2022 Gujarat Titans: Road to final
Notably, since the last season, Harshal Patel has been RCB’s key wicket-taker in the death overs. He bagged 21 scalps last season. This season too he has become one of RCB’s mainstays and has 19 scalps to his name so far as well. Moreover, while talking about the pressure situation, Harshal Patel has said that he always wanted to test himself under immense pressure by bowling in the slog overs as well.
“Whether I would be able to deliver or not, I don’t really know, I can’t say. But I want to be in those situations, there is no doubt about that and I have been wanting to do that for the past 2-3 years, I have been doing that for Haryana, and I wanted to do it at the bigger stage and I will continue to put myself in those situations, sometimes it is going to come off, sometimes it is not going to come off. There will be games where I will end up losing for the team and I am okay with that as long as I don’t shy away from challenges.”
