The Dinesh Karthik-led Indians defeated Northamptonshire by 10 runs in a warm-up match on the night of July 3, 2022, on the back of Harshal Patel’s all-rounder game. Harshal Patel scored 54 runs in the first 36 balls with the help of 5 fours and 3 sixes. Harshal was able to score only 10 runs in the first 15 balls, but after that he scored 44 runs in his last 19 balls. He completed his fifty in 32 balls. Not only this, Harshal later took 2 wickets for 23 runs in 3.3 overs. He was adjudged player of the match. India beat Derbyshire by 7 wickets in the first warm-up match.
After the match, a comment came on Twitter praising Harshal Patel. Orange Patel after Purple Patel. Let us inform that Harshal Patel won the Purple Cap in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. He is the first and only bowler in the history of IPL to win the Purple Cap (highest number of wickets in the season) for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Many more people have commented in praise of Harshal’s all-rounder game.
This innings of Harshal Patel is also important because at one point India lost 5 wickets for 72 runs in 11.1 overs. After this, Harshal along with Venkatesh Iyer shared a 50-run partnership for the sixth wicket in 7.2 overs. Venkatesh Iyer was dismissed after scoring 20 off 22 balls. Dinesh Karthik also played an important role in the victory of the Indian team. He scored 34 runs in 26 balls with the help of 3 fours and a six.
In this match played at the County Ground in Northampton, Northamptonshire won the toss and elected to bowl. India got off to a very bad start. However, later she managed to score 149 for 8 in 20 overs in 20 overs. Chasing the target, the entire team of Northamptonshire could only score 139 runs in 19.3 overs.
Apart from Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan and Yuzvendra Chahal took two wickets each for India, while famous Krishna and Venkatesh Iyer took one wicket each. Half of Northamptonshire’s team returned to the pavilion on the score of 54 runs, but after this Saif Jab kept one end with 33 runs in 35 balls. From the other end, James Sells (12), Nathan Buck (18) and Brandon Glover (15) made useful contributions with the bat to make the match exciting.
Earlier, India had lost 3 wickets for 8 runs. The Indian team lost the wicket of Sanju Samson (0) on the very first ball. He was leg-before by captain Josh Cobb. In the third over, fast bowler Glover gave India a double blow by dismissing Rahul Tripathi (07) and Suryakumar Yadav (00). After this Dinesh Karthik along with Ishan Kishan took the score beyond 50.
Ishan got out after scoring 16 runs. When the team’s score was 72 runs, then Karthik also returned to the pavilion. After this Harshal showed amazing with the bat. The Indian team managed to add 54 runs in the last five overs. For Northamptonshire, Glover took 3 for 33, while Buck (2 for 17) and left-arm spinner Freddie Heldrich (2 for 33) took two wickets each.