Harshal Patel can prove to be the biggest challenge for Rajasthan Royals in the Qualifier-2 match of IPL 2022. He performed brilliantly in the Eliminator match against Lucknow Super Giants. His bowling in the death overs is causing a lot of trouble to the opposition teams. Along with bowling economical, he also takes wickets. The right-arm bowler did something similar in the last season as well.
The 31-year-old cricketer has so far taken 97 wickets in the IPL. Out of these, he has taken 51 wickets in the last two seasons. Made his debut in IPL 2012. He played 12 matches that year. After this he played 15 matches in the year 2015. He didn’t get many matches in the rest of the year. In some season, he got a chance to play five matches in some and two matches in some. In the year 2013, he did not even get a chance. In such a situation, between 2012 and 2019, he could take only 46 wickets.
Harshal performed brilliantly in the IPL of 2021. He won the Purple Cap for RCB by taking 32 wickets. In the IPL mega, RCB bought him back for a whopping price of 10.75 crores. There was a fierce fight between Sunrisers Hyderabad and RCB to buy him. Earlier, Harshal Patel returned to RCB after being traded to Delhi Capitals ahead of IPL 2021.
Patel was bought by Delhi Capitals in 2018 after spending most of his IPL career at Royal Challengers Bangalore. He made an impressive all-round performance in the 2019-20 domestic season. Due to this performance, Delhi retained him before IPL 2020. He has also been selected in Team India.
After the match against Lucknow, Harshal Patel said that he does not panic about bowling in the last overs but says that match by match he wants to face these high pressure moments. He said, “Whether I will be able to perform well, I do not know and I cannot say. But I want to go through this kind of situation again and again. No doubt about it. For the last two to three years I was waiting for this. I have been bowling last overs for Haryana and wanted to do it on a bigger scale. I want to see myself in those situations again and again. Sometimes I can do well, sometimes I won’t.