'I used to get paid $35 a day'- Harshal Patel recalls his early struggles

A cricketer’s life might look privileged today with multi-million contracts combined with endorsement and sponsorship deals but, they had to really slog in order to reach where they are today. There are many players who had to do odd jobs as well before making it big on the cricket field. One of them happens to be Harshal Patel.

Harshal recalled his early life when he had to work at a Pakistani citizen’s perfume store in the USA and how speaking in English was a difficult task for him since he had completed his schooling from a Gujarati-medium school. At the same time, the medium-pacer also said that he only used to get paltry sum of 35 dollars per day.

I learned what those blue-collar jobs really are: Harshal Patel

“I used to work at this Pakistani guy’s perfume store in Elizabeth, New Jersey. I couldn’t speak a word of English because I had studied in Gujarati medium throughout. That was my first encounter with the language and also with so much slang because that entire area was predominantly Latino and African American. Then I picked up their kind of English. Gangster English”, said Harshal Patel while speaking to sports broadcaster Gaurav Kapur on his show ‘Breakfast With Champions’.

The Gujarat cricketer also explained how that phase of life gave him a reality check of the hardships especially when it comes to doing blue-collar jobs. Furthermore, he also added how difficult it was to make ends meet with the meagre salary that he was being offered.

“It was a great experience for me because I learned what those blue-collar jobs really are. My aunt and uncle used to go to their offices, and they would drop me on the way. So at 7 am I would be dropped off and the store would open at 9 am. For two hours I used to sit at the Elizabeth railway station. Do my work till 7.30, 8 pm. So 12-13 hours a day and I used to get paid $35 a day,” he said.

All those years of hardships and sacrifices have finally borne fruits as Harshal is now an established cricketer in domestic cricket and the IPL. He is now making a slow impact in the India jersey as well. The medium-pacer who won the Purple Cap last season with 32 wickets from 15 games was bought back by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for a staggering INR 10.75 crore in the 2022 IPL mega auction.

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