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Slowly becoming one of India's most dangerous death bowlers, Harshal Patel has come a long way in the sport of cricket. The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pacer was a talent from a very young age, and after catching the eyes of scouts at the domestic level, he has been a part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well as the national team, whenever fit. Ahead of the T20 World Cup, which will see the pacer return after injury, we look at a profile of his life and career trajectory.
Early life and career
Harshal Patel's coach Tarak Trivedi played an instrumental role in making Harshal a cricketer. He was the person who convinced his family to not move to the USA in order to see Harshal pursue his cricket career. Hailing from Gujarat, Harshal was impressive at the U-19 level but the state selectors ignored him for the first-class side.
When he moved to Haryana, he was under the watchful eyes of former England cricketer Ian Pont, who helped him develop his skills as a bowler. He eventually made his first-class debut for Haryana against Delhi in 2011 and ended the season with 28 wickets in seven games.
During the 2013-14 Ranji Trophy season, Harshal bagged 29 wickets from the eight games that he played, and was very economical as well. with an average of just 23.75. After recovering from an injury, he scalped another 22 wickets from eight games in the 2015-16 season.
IPL entry
Harshal has played 78 matches in his IPL career, a majority of them with RCB under the captaincy of Virat Kohli. He was snapped up as a youngster by the Mumbai Indians in 2010. After two seasons and 0 chances with the five-time champions, Harshal was then picked up by RCB for the 2012 IPL season. He stayed with the Bengaluru-based franchise until 2017 before moving to the erstwhile Delhi Daredevils for the 2018 edition.
After spending the majority of his IPL career at Bengaluru, Harshal put in some impressive all-round performances during the domestic season of 2019-20 and was one of the few players to be retained by Delhi Capitals ahead of the IPL 2020. However, made his return to RCB after being traded in from the Delhi Capitals ahead of IPL 2021, and since then, has been their frontline bowler, with 51 wickets across two seasons!
While still uncapped, and in the first match of IPL 2021, Harshal took five wickets against the Mumbai Indians, his best figures yet. Harshal was then the first bowler to claim a 5-wicket haul against Mumbai Indians in the IPL. He finished the season with 32 wickets, making him the highest Indian wicket-taker in a single season and joint-most with Dwayne Bravo.
Ahead of the 2022 IPL mega auction, Harshal was bought back by RCB for Rs 10.75 crores.
International career
Harshal has not played any ODIs or Tests for India. He made his T20I debut for India against New Zealand on 19 November 2021. In this match, Harshal grabbed two wickets and was named the player of the match. This was followed by another fruitful two-wicket haul to end the series with four scalps in two appearances.
At the time of writing, Harshal has played 19 matches for India, bagging 23 wickets. His best figures of 4/25 came in his debut match but with an economy rate of 9.06, Harshal will need to improve to order to perform at the T20 World Cup and remain in the team.
