Harshal Patel has evolved into one of the finest death bowling weapons for Team India in recent times. However, the series against Australia didn’t really go as planned as he was hammered mercilessly and he couldn’t eke out much success either. There is already much heat about the fact that he should be dropped ahead of the T20 World Cup 2022.
In fact, Aakash Chopra also stated that Harshal would be no help for India in Australia where the pitches are bouncy and pacy. Well, he was right about the Australian surfaces but the question here that should be asked is, just because Australia has bouncy surfaces, does spinners not get wickets there? Then what exactly is wrong with a medium fast bowler?
Here are three reasons why, we need to believe in Harshal Patel the enforcer for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022:
#1 Harshal Patel has just returned from injury and you need to give him time
It is not easy to recuperate from a major blow where your mind still keeps on questioning about all the possible traumas that you had to go through while recovering from your injuries. Now torn between the recovery and the forthcoming urge to deliver, it is hard to get yourself in the correct headspace to figure out a way. Ideally, for Harshal Patel, one of his major weapons is how he gets into the enemy’s head and according vary his line and lengths with mixed pace. With so much happening at his end, you need to cut him some slack. It is understandable that a showpiece event is in the corner, but all he needs is just that one good performance and a little bit of support and it can be a paradigm shift for the medium fast bowler.
#2 Good at mind games
Harshal Patel’s primary bowling weapon is playing mind games with the batter and if you are trying to figure out that how exactly does it work, it is like crossing the batter in his thoughts and anticipations and by the time he makes his move, you have already planned yours. Harshal is more about setting up the batter for his bigger strokes and then slightly mixing up the line to produce that mishit.
Harshal Patel is not your regular economical bowler. He would concede runs because that is an equally important part of his trap but at the same time, he would force the batter to go big so that the mishit is following through. However, here even he has to be considering of the fact that too many runs would nullify the advantage that he just produced claiming a wicket.
#3 A wicket-taker in the middle overs
With Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh in the line-up, India would most likely be resorting to Harshal Patel in the middle-over or even in the powerplay. Now, going by the recent numbers, he has been pretty economical in the middle-overs and has almost produced equal number of wickets as that in the death. It is already a proven fact that if you are a wicket-taker in the middle overs then that can lead to significant impact towards a theatrical finish.
