'I challenge myself to be as good as Jasprit Bumrah' - Harshal Patel speaks on his 'USP' and ambitions ahead of PBKS vs RCB

Ahead of the highly-captivating clash between the Punjab Kings and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Match 58 of IPL 2024 which is of quite some importance to both the franchises considering the buildup to the playoffs, Harshal Patel was drawn in for an exclusive interview by ESPNcricinfo.

Harshal, after 11 games for PBKS in the IPL so far, has managed to scalp 17 wickets, being second on the list of top wicket-takers up until his side's game against RCB, his former franchise for whom he's played across two discrete stints (2012-17 and 2021-23).

On being questioned on the fact whether taking wickets has been a relatively arduous task in the current season, Harshal's reaction was an outlandish but detailed one, where he spoke extensively on his usage of the slower delivery. He was confident in admitting that if there was a certain variation which he felt was coming out of the hands well enough, as well as his him being able to execute those kinds of deliveries with utmost aplomb, especially his slower deliveries, in the case in which he has sometimes had the belief of taking a plethora of wickets in a single over. Renowned for his devious off-cutters outfoxing quite a lot of batters over time, he remarked that strategizing when to unleash his variations during junctures he felt the batters would be triggered to commit a slip-up was the foremost priority for him. In fact, he revealed that picking up wickets was never an issue for him, curbing the flow of runs was the real hassle, owing to his 'USP' of being a serial wicket-taker.

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"Purely from a wicket-taking point of view, if I have certain deliveries that are working for me, if they're coming out of my hand well, if I'm bowling them well, and if I'm confident about those deliveries, especially the slower balls, I know I can pick up two or three wickets in an over. For me, it's all about setting those slower balls up in the right way and executing them when I know the batter could make a mistake and I have a higher chance of forcing an error. So, it has not been difficult to pick up wickets. The difficulty comes when I have to contain, because my USP has always been picking up wickets, and that's an aspect of the game that I've been working on," Harshal told ESPNCricinfo. 

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Harshal even discussed him ascertaining the trick to asphyxiate batters, and there being a lot of adroit techniques involved in implementing the same. He mentioned that to enhance his competence, he's been at it even before the season kicked off. He was really earnest in professing that there have been occurrences where he's not able to fulfil his expectations in terms of his output, but he also intended and sought to become at par with Indian pace-bowling spearhead, Jasprit Bumrah, who's been rattling the wickets column being one ahead of Harshal, as well as being as stingy as possible in terms of his economy during the course of this IPL. 

"I have sort of figured out what I need to do to be able to shut batters down when I need to, and there's a lot of skill aspects involved in that as well. I've been working on those skills consistently from even before the season. I've not been able to consistently do it in the game, but I'm on the right path and when it all comes together, I want to be as good as someone like Jasprit [Bumrah], because we keep talking about bowlers going at nine or ten an over and throughout this IPL, there has been one fast bowler [Bumrah] who goes for less than six most of the times. I challenge myself to be as good as him!" exclaimed Harshal.