Harshal Patel

Harshal Patel's coach Tarak Trivedi was instrumental in him becoming a cricketer. During his early days, when Patel's family was keen to move to USA, his coach convinced the family to stay in India for Patel to pursue his cricket career. Hailing from Gujarat, Patel was impressive at the Under-19 level but the state selectors ignored him for the first-class side.

However, Patel moved to Haryana, where he was under the watchful eyes of former England cricketer Ian Pont, who helped him develop his skills. Eventually, he made his first-class debut for Haryana against Delhi in 2011 and ended the season with 28 wickets from 7 games. Having been picked up by Mumbai Indians in 2010, Harshal was picked up RCB for the 2012 season of IPL. He stayed with RCB till 2017 before moving to Delhi Daredevils for the 2018 edition.

A skiddy customer Harshal managed to stay in the fringes of the strong RCB team but eventually never got a longer run thanks to the flat deck dished out by the Chinnaswamy stadium. But at the domestic level, he carried on with his good perfomances. In 2013-14 ranji Trophy, Harshal ended up with 29 wicket from 8 games at a miserly average of 23.75 and after recovering from an injury, he scalped 22 wickets from 8 games in the 2015-16 season.

Harshal's main weapon was the slower ball which he effectively used to deceive batter, particularly during the death overs. He used his skill to superb effect in IPL seasons outside India and since the 20-21 season, he has been a show of consistency. His IPL heroics gave him chances with the national team, in the shortest format of the game. However, Harshal couldn't replicate his franchise performances onto the national team and played the last of his 25 T20Is in January, 2023.

IPL through the years

Harshal Patel made his debut in the 2012 IPL season and since then he has participated in 41 matches across seven seasons. Harshal has never quite made an impact to be a regular fixture in an IPL fixture but he has done enough to be in the squad for the next edition. Harshal picks wicket at a decent strike-rate but his problem has been his economy. In the last year, playing for the Delhi franchise, he conceded runs at an economy of 9.54. And his average economy in IPL is 8.66. Harshal has to work on the economy rate to become a regular part of the Delhi franchise.

In 2021, Patel was traded to RCB from Delhi and that’s where he had a superb career revival. He developed a lethal dipping yorker and slower delivery, and was almost impossible to hit in the death overs. Patel took a hat-trick against Mumbai Indians that season and ended as the leading wicket-taker with 32 wickets. These performances prompted an India call-up and Harshal made his debut against New Zealand in November 2021. He was also part of the India squad for the 2022 T20 World Cup but failed to get any games.

He was a little less impressive in the next two IPL seasons, ending with 19 and 14 wickets respectively. He was released by RCB and picked up by Punjab Kings for the 2024 season. Harshal found his mojo once again as he finished the season as the leading wicket taker with 24 wickets. Harshal Patel became just the second Indian after Bhuvneshwar Kumar to win the Purple Cap on multiple occasions, and first to win with different franchises.